GOP senator agrees to sponsor Akaka bill

Advertiser Staff

Another Republican U.S. Senator has agreed to co-sponsor the Akaka bill that would give Native Hawaiians federal recognition, Gov. Linda Lingle's communications director said yesterday.

Lenny Klompus said Lingle, who is in Washington for a National Governors Association conference on long-term care, met with U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore. Smith, who is in his second term and a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, said he would co-sponsor the Akaka bill, Klompus said.

Smith is the third Republican to co-sponsor the bill, which has stalled in the U.S. Senate. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, co-sponsored the bill earlier, said Paul Cardus, spokesman for Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i.

Conservative Republicans have blocked the bill since it was introduced in 2000, claiming it would sanction unconstitutional race-based preferences.

Cardus said Smith's decision to co-sponsor the bill is a "reflection of the fact that there's bipartisan support for the legislation.

"It's another step," Cardus said. "It's one step in the process that I think Sen. Akaka is hopeful and confident will lead to passage next year."

Klompus said Lingle did not plan to talk to other Republican senators about the Akaka bill during her trip.