Posted at 1:42 p.m., Thursday, November 14, 2002
House Dems make few leadership changes
Advertiser Staff
House Democrats announced their new organizational structure today, with few changes in leadership."For the most part it was a status quo lineup," said Rep. Scott Saiki, whose new role as House majority leader represents one of the few changes.
Rep. Calvin Say will remain House speaker and Rep. Sylvia Luke will continue as vice speaker.
Saiki replaces Rep. Marcus Oshiro, who will be a majority whip, as well as chairman of the Labor and Public Employment committee. Other majority whips are Reps. Jun Abinsay, Bob Herkes, Ken Ito, Bertha Kawakami, Bob Nakasone, Blake Oshiro and Brian Schatz.
With 14 standing committees, most of the 36 Democrats ended up with chairman or vice chairman positions, including the five freshmen. "We have a diverse group of freshmen. They're eager to work. They bring a lot of experience with them to the Legislature," Saiki said. "For the most part we've slotted them in the areas of interest to them."
Saiki said the legislators were eager to get to work, as well as work with Gov.-elect Linda Lingle. "We're excited to see what kinds of proposals she's going to bring to the table," he said.
