Hanabusa is hopeful

Despite being a liberal freshman Democrat in a Republican-majority, tea-party-influenced House, Colleen Hanabusa — the new representative of Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District — glows with optimism.

"No matter what, it’s all going to become a matter of relationships," Hanabusa said after taking the oath of office this week.

She is among 91 new House members, but refers to those among them who are Democrats as the "Noble Nine."

While some observers predict gridlock, the former Hawaii Senate president said, "What I expect to see is that, as we get down to the wire, that you’re going to see compromises just like you did in (December’s) lame-duck session. I appreciate that, irrespective of how (Republicans) may feel, that, in fact, the reality will be something else."

One reality is that the House in its lame-duck session held a Democratic majority — but, alas for Hanabusa, no longer.

Let’s discuss this online

The state Senate is going virtual on us.

There’s a one-hour town hall meeting starting at 11:30 a.m. today. Topic: how to appoint members of the state Board of Education.

It’s not in any hall at all, however, but in the twitterverse. Sign in at twitter.com — or sign up for a new, free account — then, in the box up top called "What’s happening?" type your questions, starting with @jilltokuda (the senator hosting this event). Or just lurk by typing #askjill in the search box and read all the comments.

Isn’t that tweet?