3-term Democrat
in House may
switch to GOP side

Rep. Ahu Isa says she has not
decided but is weighing the change

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By Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.com

Rep. Lei Ahu Isa, a three-term Democrat in the state House, is considering changing parties and running as a Republican in the fall elections.

Ahu Isa says she has not decided if she would switch but said she was interested in running for the state Senate from the newly created 12th District encompassing Waikiki and downtown. Ahu Isa currently represents the 27th House District (Alewa Heights-Liliha).

The possibility of a party switch interests Micah Kane, GOP chairman. He noted that Ahu Isa is chairwoman of the House Economic Development Committee.

"She is on the front lines, and she sees the proposal on behalf of her party, and she sees that they don't have the proposals that could stimulate our economy.

"I think the Republican proposals are more in line with what she thinks," Kane said.

Ahu Isa said the party switch is "under consideration" because of problems with leadership in the state house.

"We have no communication; everything is top down," she said.

Last week, Gov. Ben Cayetano criticized both Ahu Isa and her Senate Economic Committee counterpart, Sen. Rod Tam, saying they had not done enough to help the state economy.

"They've put two of their weakest people in charge of two important committees. Nothing's coming out of the economic development committees," Cayetano said last week.

Ahu Isa responded by saying Cayetano had not paid attention to a number of bills that she was moving through her committee.

During this session, Ahu Isa has been moving closer to GOP positions on a number of issues. She voted with Republicans against the Democratic House version of the state budget, and she also voted against taking money from the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund to balance the state budget and voted against a "death with dignity" bill pushed by Cayetano.

Lorraine Akiba, Democratic Party chairwoman, and Rep. Calvin Say, speaker of the House, did not return calls regarding Ahu Isa's plans.

Four years ago, Ahu Isa attended a GOP fund-raiser. She said she was dropping off a friend at the program, but Democrats criticized her for supporting the GOP.

Ahu Isa is a Realtor and professor at Hawaii Pacific University teaching business economics and management.