Djou may be ousted as zoning chairman

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Outspoken City Councilman Charles Djou could lose control of a key committee under a reshuffling plan that seven of the council's nine members have signaled support for.

All but Djou and Councilman Gary Okino signed a resolution that would replace Djou with Barbara Marshall as chair of the Zoning Committee, which controls how many development plans are handled.

The plan also would remove Djou and Marshall from the powerful Budget Committee, and replace them with Nestor Garcia and newly elected Councilman Todd Apo. Ann Kobayashi would remain chair of the committee, and Donovan Dela Cruz would remain chairman of the council.

Djou said he opposes the plan and will hold a news conference today to denounce it.

"I'm not going to take it lying down," he said.

Final approval of the reshuffling would require at least five members to vote in support of it next month.

The council's agenda has mostly been steered over the past year by an alliance that generally includes Kobayashi, Dela Cruz, Rod Tam and Romy Cachola.

Djou has sometimes opposed the bloc and been critical of its actions, including the recent decision to keep the city's landfill at Waimanalo Gulch.

Dela Cruz said that the reorganization is being driven mostly by the need to find a spot for Apo when he takes office next month. The new lineup would create a Housing and Enterprise Services Committee, which Apo would chair.

Djou would be installed as chair of the Parks Committee, seen at City Hall as a political backwater. He would also be removed from the Public Works and Economic Development Committee, chaired by Tam.

Tam, who helped author the pending resolution, said the landfill fight did not trigger the jockeying. "It's based on working relationships," Tam said of the proposed changes. "You formulate the working relationships in the best interests of the public."

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.