Posted on: Friday, November 30, 2001

Two reapportionment districts go back to drawing board

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Capitol Bureau Chief

A threat to two of the state's most prominent Republicans likely will be eliminated today when the Reapportionment Commission is expected to draw new boundaries that head off a potential primary fight between Sens. Fred Hemmings and Sam Slom.

In another change, the commission is expected to redraw the boundaries in Pearl City in a way that would lump Reps. Roy Takumi and Nobu Yonamine in the same Pearl City district.

The commission last month proposed maps that would have created a district stretching from Lanikai around Makapu'u Point to Kalama Valley in Hawai'i Kai, and would have encompassed the homes of Slom and Hemmings.

That would have set up a contested Republican primary between the two unless one was willing to move or step down.

Since then the commission has drafted a plan to keep Slom and Hemmings separate by dividing up Hawai'i Kai and assigning some makai Hawai'i Kai areas to the Waimanalo and Lanikai district that Hemmings represents.

Hemmings, R-25th (Kailua, Waimanalo), said he has heard of the plan to separate him from Slom, adding: "They've come up with, I think, a plan that has pretty much addressed everybody's concerns."

Slom said he had heard talk of the plan, but said he opposes any effort to divide up Hawai'i Kai. He said he is "very disappointed" in the proposal.

"I don't think Hawai'i Kai should be broken up and (part of it) be in Kailua, because they're not the same. They're not the same communities," said Slom, R-8th (Wai'alae Iki, Hawai'i Kai).

In Pearl City, the commission plans to combine makai areas of Pearl City represented by Takumi, D-36th (Pearl City, Waipahu) with the mauka Pearl City neighborhoods represented by Yonamine.

Yonamine, D-35th (Pearl City, Pacific Palisades), said he has long argued for that change because he believes Pearl City should be a single district that should not be divided into two pieces.

Yonamine said he is considering running for re-election, but is also considering a bid for the state Senate.

The new boundaries in the Pearl City area would also create a new House district with no incumbent in Waipahu.

The Reapportionment Commission will meet at 2 p.m. today in Room 329 of the State Capitol.