Reapportionment dispute over 'special treatment'
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Capitol Bureau Chief
The leader of House Republicans is charging that Senate President Robert Bunda and House Speaker Calvin Say received special treatment from the state Reapportionment Commission.
House Minority Leader Galen Fox, R-21st (Waikiki-Ala Wai), said the commission adjusted the two Democrats' district boundaries in ways that help them politically.
However, Fox acknowledged he also asked the commission to make specific adjustments in his district, and some of those changes were adopted.
Say, D-18th (Palolo-St. Louis-Kaimuki), and Bunda, D-22nd (Wahiawa-Waialua-Sunset Beach), denied they received special treatment.
Say said it is Republicans who received special consideration by the commission, which managed to keep almost all Republican incumbents in separate districts so they won't have to run against each other.
The dispute between Fox and the leading Democrats at the Legislature suggests strains are developing over a complex series of compromises the Republicans and Democrats entered into for reapportionment.
The Reapportionment Commission is appointed every 10 years to redraw the boundaries of the 51 House and 25 Senate districts and equalize the populations in each district, using numbers from the latest Census.
The process can have a huge impact on incumbents' political fortunes because the new boundaries sometimes separate elected officials from their political strongholds. Lawmakers also worry that they may be assigned to neighborhoods that don't share the elected officials' political views.
Say, Fox, Bunda and Senate Minority Leader Sam Slom, R-25th (Wai'alae Iki-Hawai'i Kai), each appointed two members to the commission. The ninth member — Commission Chairman Wayne Minami — was selected by the other eight.
Fox said Say's district was redrawn in a unique way. Almost every district in urban Honolulu expanded toward 'Ewa, but the proposed new boundaries for Say's district would expand it westward to encompass Maunalani Heights.
This may cause problems for Rep. Barbara Marumoto, R-17th (Kahala-Wai'alae Iki), who has represented Maunalani for years. Marumoto was instead assigned Kaimuki neighborhoods, which are largely Democratic.
Fox pointed out that Say represented Maunalani Heights when he was first elected to the Legislature in the 1970s, which means many people in the area may know and remember him from his early days in politics.
Say appointed Reapportionment Commissioner Harold Masumoto to the commission, and Say acknowledged he told Masumoto he would like Maunalani Heights added to his district.
But Say said Maunalani is a Republican neighborhood, adding: "To say I'm willing to go into a Republican area, am I protecting myself?"
Say said he would be "more than happy" if the commission instead assigned him heavily Democratic neighborhoods in Kaimuki and Kapahulu, which are also just outside Say's existing district. But if that had happened, Say said the Republicans would still complain he was being favored.
"He just wants to paint my character, that I'm involved in everything," Say said of Fox. "This is the kind of politics he wants to bring up. It's really unfounded."
As for Bunda, Fox said the commission created a House "canoe" district that includes Mokule'ia and Schofield Barracks and then leapfrogs to north Kaua'i. Fox said customarily there would be a comparable Senate canoe district that encompasses the same areas, but that didn't happen.
Instead, the commission created a new Senate canoe district that combines Kailua in Windward O'ahu with north Kaua'i. That could be dangerous for Sen. Fred Hemmings, R-25th (Kailua-Waimanalo), who would have to build a political base from scratch on Kaua'i.
Fox said he believes that's happened because Bunda represents Mokule'ia and Schofield Barracks, and Bunda didn't want a canoe district. Bunda's proposed new district is almost identical to his old one, stretching from Schofield Barracks and Wahiawa to Mokule'ia and Kahuku.
"It looks to me like it's a pretty simple explanation in both cases. It's not only the power of the Senate president and the speaker, it's also the fact that they've appointed the majority of the commissioners," Fox said.
Bunda said he didn't ask the commissioners for anything.
"The plan that they've got right now is all of theirs. I have nothing to do with any of the canoes," Bunda said.
Masumoto said Bunda's boundaries were left basically intact because Bunda already had enough people in his district. The boundaries didn't need to be adjusted, so the commission left the district alone to cause as little disruption as possible.
Say, meanwhile, said Fox also asked the commission to have his district redrawn in specific ways.
Fox said he met with neighboring lawmaker Rep. Mindy Jaffe, R-19th (Waikiki-Kaimuki-Diamond Head) and discussed where the new boundary should be in Waikiki to separate Jaffe from Fox. Fox then took that proposal to Commissioner Jill Frierson — who Fox appointed — and it was in large part incorporated into the new maps.
Fox said those sorts of proposals are being floated by lawmakers all across the state. He said that is very different from what Say did because Fox met with his neighboring lawmaker, and they agreed on what should be done. Say had no such agreement with his neighbor, Marumoto.
"It's really entirely different from what the speaker's doing where he's taking a gigantic area to the east that has nothing to do with the basic flow of movement to the west," Fox said. "He unilaterally imposed his boundaries on everybody."
Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
