[ HONOLULU CITY COUNCIL ]
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Mike Gabbard and his daughter, Tulsi Gabbard Tomayo, celebrated early returns that showed him with a lead. Tomayo, a candidate in the State House 42 race, won last night.
New City Council Two returning Honolulu City Council members say they are willing to lead what will be an inexperienced body into a potentially rough budget season in January.
looking for leaders
6 of the newly elected Council
members have never held city officeBy Gordon Y.K. Pang
gpang@starbulletin.comCouncil members Romy Cachola and Gary Okino both said they would be interested in becoming chairman -- if their colleagues so desire. Both have two years on the Council, while Ann Kobayashi was elected in January.
Elected to the City Council yesterday were: Donovan Dela Cruz, Charles Djou, Nestor Garcia, Mike Gabbard, Barbara Marshall and Rod Tam. None of the six have held elected city office although three -- Djou, Garcia and Tam --are coming over from the state Legislature.
Outgoing Councilman Duke Bainum said Mayor Jeremy Harris, who will be starting his ninth year as the city's chief executive, will "be in a more advantageous position" at first.
"I think they will have daunting tasks," he said. "No money, little experience on city issues and big problems and they'll have to learn fast. But these are smart people."
The mayor said he is looking forward to shepherding in the new Council.
DENNIS ODA DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Donavan Dela Cruz held 2-year-old Josiah Chang-Kamealoha last night at Dela Cruz's home, where he and supporters gathered. He won the race for the District 2 seat.
"We're obviously going to be dealing with a very inexperienced Council and we're going to be doing everything we can to bring them up to speed as quickly as possible," Harris said.
Okino said he is willing to offer himself as chairman. "I think I can get these guys on board faster," he said.
Cachola said he wants to talk to his colleagues to "see if a consensus could possibly be reached."
Asked if he wanted to be chairman, Cachola said, "I'll leave that door open."
Said Kobayashi: "We were saying one of (the three returning members) should be chair and I don't want to be chair."
Kobayashi said she wants to remain chairman of the Budget Committee and thinks that Okino should be chairman and that Cachola should continue to lead the Zoning Committee. The Budget and Zoning chairs are viewed as the most powerful on the Council.
The four new Council members reached by the Star-Bulletin said they have not thought about how the Council should organize. They seemed to agree, however, that fixing the budget and an anticipated shortfall is the top priority.
"I'd like to be on the Budget Committee, that's just our most critical priority," said Marshall. "We need to take a hard look at what we can afford and not afford."
Djou said he believes his area of expertise is fiscal matters and that wants to sit on the Budget Committee, noting that he campaigned on the need to better scrutinize city finances.
Tam, who has an auditing background, said he also wants to sit on the Budget Committee. He also listed economic development as another key issue that he would like to take on.
Dela Cruz said one of his priorities is "seeing what we can do as far as getting back to core services" and he wants to explore more public-private partnerships.
There seems to be mixed predictions on whether the new Council will have a more cooperative or contentious relationship with Harris.
Harris said: "I'm hoping ... we can put aside any of our political labels and work together and avoid the political back-biting and focus on a shared agenda.
"That's going to be my pledge to the City Council -- an offer and a pledge of partnership and a true effort to help them accomplish what they feel is important for their communities."
