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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Say will return as House speaker

By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Government Writer

Calvin Say

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State House Democrats voted yesterday to keep veteran House Speaker Calvin Say in power, closing off a move by several younger lawmakers who have been privately angling for a new leader.

Say asked House Democrats yesterday to fill out questionnaires about their interests and will meet with lawmakers over the next few days before announcing his leadership team and committee assignments. Say would not commit yesterday about whether the chairmanships of influential committees such as the House Finance Committee might change.

While House leadership will remain in familiar hands, there were increasing signs yesterday that Democrats in the state Senate may choose new leadership to replace President Robert Bunda.

Say, who has been House speaker for the past eight years, acknowledged that it will be more difficult to keep control of the growing Democratic caucus on policy issues. Democrats picked up two seats in the elections last week after gaining five seats in 2004. Democrats have a 43 to 8 advantage over Republicans in the House.

"I believe it will and I'm not the type of the old school where I'm going to be twisting arms," said Say, D-20th (St. Louis Heights, Palolo, Wilhelmina Rise). "If the votes are there, they're there. If they are not there, they're not there."

Say said issues such as public education, prescription drug coverage, long-term care, and land use, particularly the availability of water for agriculture and new homes, will likely be priorities for the upcoming session. He said he would try to work collaboratively with Republican Gov. Linda Lingle.

Both Say loyalists and the faction interested in a new leader had been lining up votes over the past several weeks. Say's allies were confident they had enough votes but, at one point late last week, they thought it might be close.

Say and several others said the likely challengers were Vice Speaker K. Mark Takai, D-34th (Pearl City, Newtown, Royal Summit), state Rep. Sylvia Luke, D-26th (Punchbowl, Pacific Heights, Nu'uanu Valley), and state Rep. Roy Takumi, D-36th (Pearl City, Palisades.)

Say informed Democrats on Sunday that he would be calling for a leadership vote yesterday afternoon, the signal he had the votes to prevail. The vote to keep Say was unanimous among the 41 Democrats present.

In the Senate, Democrats were meeting privately late yesterday about who might replace Bunda, D-22nd (North Shore, Wahiawa), and take control of key committees such as the Ways and Means Committee, which oversees state spending. Senate leadership has been unsettled since a failed coup against Bunda at the end of the 2005 session.

The Senate's competing factions of Democrats have apparently agreed to replace Bunda but were still negotiating over which faction would control the presidency and key committees. Senate Majority Leader Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Nanakuli, Makaha), has been named most frequently as a possible new president, but she has fallen short of the votes in previous reorganization attempts.

House and Senate leadership decisions are important because leaders have the power to set the policy agenda at the Capitol and will help define the tone of the relationship between the Legislature and Lingle.

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com.