Hawaii House Democrats: We Want Souki
They want Joe Souki.
That was the message a majority of Hawaii House Democrats sent Wednesday afternoon during a private caucus at the Capitol Building, according to lawmakers who attended.
The members re-affirmed their commitment to Souki as their pick to head the House this legislative session, which starts Jan. 16. The two-hour discussion and a collection of signatures that followed made it clear that the longtime Maui rep has the votes to replace Calvin Say as speaker, albeit through a controversial coalition with House Republicans.
Souki needs a majority of the 51-member House to become speaker. He has 25 dissident Democrats behind him at this point, plus seven Republicans.
However, some legislators expect him to pick up a 26th Democrat after a replacement for Rep. Gil Keith-Agaran, who is heading over to the Senate, is appointed. The state Democratic Party is compiling a list of three names for Gov. Neil Abercrombie to choose from.
Regardless, soon-to-be House Majority Leader Scott Saiki said, the dissident group will not go back on its agreement with the Republicans, who were promised three vice-chair positions in return for their support.
Souki has said Democrats will still chair the powerful Judiciary, Finance and Consumer Protection committees. Finance is expected to go to Rep. Sylvia Luke and Rep. Karl Rhoads is expected to get Judiciary.
Say announced last month that he wouldn’t seek another term as speaker, urging his 18 supporters to back Rep. Marcus Oshiro.
Saiki said the talk remained positive, but acknowledged the serious division within the caucus.
“It was a good opportunity for House Democrats to air their differences and concerns on how we can unify ourselves over the next two years,” he said.
Souki and Say have been in a spat over the logistical aspects of the transition for the past few weeks. Souki, who Say unseated 13 years ago as speaker, has said delaying the inevitable could force him to extend the session by up to two weeks, costing taxpayers money.
There was no specific talk about office relocations Wednesday, but based on statements Say made earlier this week, it’s expected he will now let the reorganization process move forward.
Say, the longest serving House speaker in state history, said Monday that he wanted to wait until Wednesday before effectively handing Souki the key to his office.
Lawmakers familiar with the caucus meeting discussion said Oshiro and Saiki were meeting to discuss how to get the reorganization done before session opens next week.
Say has said that if Souki indeed had the votes at Wednesday’s caucus meeting, he would give him the power to determine committee assignments, parking and office locations.
