Democrats side with Speaker Souki
Joe Souki will be speaker on opening day.
Derrick DePledge reports in his Political Radar blog that Joe Souki will serve as House Speaker on opening day, following a private caucus on Wednesday.
It’s an exciting opportunity for the dissident segment of the party, led by new Finance chairwoman Sylvia Luke and incoming Majority Leader Scott Saiki. The dissidents – now, the leadership – represent an wave of new leadership in the party.
Who else won? House Republicans, who will win vice-chair positions under Souki. According to DePledge’s sources, Souki’s deal with the minority party caused consternation among Democratic stalwarts.
At the closed-door meeting in a third-floor conference room at the state Capitol, sources say that several Democrats were critical of Souki’s alliance with Republicans, who have been promised three committee vice chairmanships and potential capital improvement project money for their districts in return for their support.
I’ll bet, however, that most of Hawai‘i welcomes the alliance, and is more interested in results than inter-party dynamics.