State House Republicans have agreed to organize with Rep. Joseph Souki and a dissident faction of Democrats, sources say, potentially giving Souki and the dissidents the majority necessary to topple House Speaker Calvin Say.
The seven Republicans give Souki and the dissidents 28 votes, two more than the 26 needed to control the 51-member House.
Souki, a former speaker who was ousted by Say 13 years ago, negotiated with House Minority Leader Aaron Johanson (R, Fort Shafter-Moanalua Gardens-Aliamanu). Sources say that Republicans could receive the vice chairmanships of three committees — including the House Finance Committee, which could have a Republican and a Democratic vice chairman — in return for their support to break the stalemate among Democrats.
"Nothing is done yet," Souki, 79, of Maui, said coyly Tuesday, adding that a resolution on the House speaker would not be voted on until opening day of the Legislature in January.
"I’m not the speaker," he said. "There is only one speaker until January."
Say, 60, the longest-serving speaker since statehood, had received the endorsement of House Republicans during his last leadership fight with dissidents two years ago. He ultimately did not need the Republican help because Democrats agreed to end the dispute among themselves on opening day.
Say (D, Palolo-St. Louis Heights-Kaimuki) said Souki and the dissidents might use the Republican support to try to pressure some of the 22 Democrats in Say’s faction to break ranks. Souki (D, Waihee-Waiehu-Wailuku) and the dissidents have 21 Democrats in their faction. One newly elected Democrat is undecided.
"I feel that they look bad, whoever the spokesperson for the other side is, along with the minority caucus," Say said.
In the past, dissidents had criticized Say’s leadership and had called for more collective and transparent discussions on public-policy issues. In aligning with Souki, who, like Say, was known to control the House with an iron grip when he was speaker in the 1990s, and partnering with Republicans, the dissidents have shown a tactical steel that goes beyond ideology.
Several dissidents have said privately that Souki is not a long-term option as speaker, but a leader with the skills and savvy necessary to counter Say, who has held off several previous dissident challenges.
Some Democrats on both sides of the internal divide are privately uncomfortable about organizing with Republicans, because of the broader message to the public that the chamber’s 44 Democrats are unable to find consensus.
Dante Carpenter, chairman of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, had urged House Democrats in a letter last week not to organize with Republicans. He said the net result would create a "super-minority" among the seven Republicans while disenfranchising Democrats on the losing end.
"I think what that would do would be essentially to disenfranchise half of the Democratic Party candidates in the House and literally empower seven guys who are woefully in the minority there," Carpenter said Tuesday. "That doesn’t make good sense to me."
Carpenter himself was once part of a historic leadership coalition between Democrats and Republicans in the state Senate in the 1980s.
Rep. Chris Lee (D, Kailua-Lanikai-Waimanalo), one of the dissidents, said dissidents wanted to avoid a delay in preparing for the session like the last leadership fight caused two years ago.
"It’s important that we get right to work," he said.
