By Laurie Au

We saw it last year, with the absence of Councilwoman Barbara Marshall, the many deadlock votes of 4-4 in the City Council.

And we see it again this year after the recent death of Marshall, of colon cancer.

When Duke Bainum was elected as the City Council’s ninth and newest member, many political insiders wondered if he would be: independent, one of the Hannemann supporters or (as it seems) another Ann Kobayashi, whose seat he filled.

Kobayashi typically disagreed with Hannemann, who beat Bainum for mayor in 2004.

At the first City Council meeting this year in January, Bainum voted with the “anti-Hannemann” faction. (He sided with Councilman Romy Cachola to keep the rail transit route in Salt Lake.)

At today’s City Council meeting, he also sided with the dissidents attempting to override Hannemann’s veto of a bill that would have banned text messaging while driving. (It failed in a 4-4 vote.)

It could be possible to see more of these 4-4 votes until a successor to Marshall’s seat is elected in a Special Election ending April 23. And maybe then, we can finally determine who has the power in the City Council.

By Laurie Au

The City Council is poised to approve several measures Wednesday that would allow the city to spend an additional $1.75 million on several lawsuits relating to wastewater, bringing the total to more than $9 million on lawyer fees over the last five years.

In a closed-door meeting two weeks ago, the city’s Corporation Counsel asked the City Council to approve these fees for Bingham McCutchen, a law firm working the city on two lawsuits.

The city is asking for an additional $750,000 to fight a recent decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for mandatory upgrades to two major wastewater treatment plants. This brings the total amount paid to this law firm on this case to $2,550,000.

The city is also asking for another $1 million for a lawsuit with several environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, relating to sewage spills. That brings the total amount spent on this lawsuit, which started in 2004, to $6,486,000.

The maximum rate for the law firm is $450 an hour.

By Laurie Au

Mayor Mufi Hannemann, in one of his most substantive speeches yet, proposed a series of cost-cutting measures in his annual State of the City address this morning.

(Our breaking news story can be found here.)

Some proposals to aid in the city’s $50 million shortfall this year include:

• Freezing wages for the city’s employees represented by the Hawaii Government Employees Association and United Public Workers.
• Possibly merging the Honolulu Fire Department and Emergency Medical Services.
• Cutting TheBoat, Hannemann’s $5 million intra-island ferry system that has been crippled by mechanical problems.
• Furloughs for Hannemann’s Cabinet members to work without pay for one day a month and rejecting any considerations for a wage increase next year.

Hannemann has not said if there will be increases in property tax rates, but said if there is, “taxpayers should know we turned over every rock” before implementing rate hikes.
Below is the transcript of Hannemann’s 42-minute speech that began with a song (of course).

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By Laurie Au

A list of notable politicians and community leaders praised Kirk Caldwell today as he begins the confirmation process by the City Council for the city’s No. 2 spot as managing director.

Caldwell will face a less friendlier crowd, the City Council, during committee meetings next month with some members likely to question his relationship with the mayor and his political ambitions.

Here are some who turned up  and what they had to say this afternoon at the City Council chambers in Honolulu Hale:

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By Laurie Au

In a move that may have little effect outside of Honolulu Hale but significant impact on the politics inside, City Council Chairman Todd Apo announced changes in the leadership of City Council committees this week.

Apo reduced the number of City Council committees from eight to six, saying this will provide “greater efficiencies and productivity.” The move also strips former City Council Chairwoman Barbara Marshall, who is undergoing treatment for colon cancer, and Councilman Romy Cachola of a leadership spot.

“I think we have found that certain committees were being delayed because of the eight committee structure,” Apo said.

Apo’s allies on the City Council include Nestor Garcia, Gary Okino and Rod Tam, all of whom received leadership positions of the more powerful committees. The biggest change was moving Garcia to lead the powerful Budget Committee.

Other than that, the dissidents of the nine-member body, Charles Djou and Donovan Dela Cruz, remain in the same positions of presiding over weaker committees.

Councilman Duke Bainum becomes chairman of the newly-formed Public Infrastructure Committee. Other than the changes in leadership, the addition of Bainum will likely change the dynamics of this divided City Council.

The new council committees and its chairmen are:

Budget – Nestor Garcia
Transportation and Planning – Gary Okino
Zoning – Rod Tam
Public Infrastructure – Duke Bainum
Executive Matters and Legal Affairs – Charles Djou
Public Safety and Service – Donovan Dela Cruz

By Laurie Au

The underlying grim theme of inaugural addresses by Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann and City Council Chairman Todd Apo today was the nation’s economic crisis and the negative trickle down effect to Oahu.

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By Laurie Au

Jeff Langcaon, of Aiea, and his two daughters, Samantha and Katherine, created a video, called “Barack Obama’s coming to town,” to the Christmas tune of “Santa Claus is coming to town.”

The nearly 2-minute long video, with drawings and lyrics, is a tribute to the Hawaii-born president-elect, who began his 10-day winter vacation with his family in Kailua on Saturday.

“We had just been messing around and put the video together over the weekend,” Langcaon said this morning. “It took me a couple of minutes to draw the pictures and we just recorded the whole thing on Sunday evening.”

Check out the video here.

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By Laurie Au

Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann today called Gov. Linda Lingle’s proposal to suspend pay raises for state leaders “symbolic,” saying it would have little impact in the state’s looming $1.1 billion budget shortfall.

“It’s probably more of a symbolic gesture than anything else,” Hannemann said in response to a reporter’s question in an unrelated press conference this morning. “If you look at the amount, it’s not that large.”

In a statement released Sunday afternoon, Lingle proposed introducing a bill that would freeze salary increases for roughly 200 state lawmakers, judges and top administrators for the next two years, which would save $4.1 million.

Hannemann said he would not rule out declining pay raises for city administrators and employees, but pointed out that the city’s Salary Commission makes those decisions. The commission approved pay increases of 5 percent to 9 percent for top city officials for this fiscal year.

Hannemann also criticized Lingle for not being more collaborative with county mayors before releasing her proposal.

Hannemann, who frequently clashes with Lingle, also added that, “It’s kind of easy to do it (suspend raises) on the last two years of your term.”

Updated, 3:56 p.m. | Lingle, in an afternoon news conference, responded to Hannemann’s criticism.

“I know that we did notify the Judiciary, the Legislature and I feel we’re being very collaborative with everyone,” Lingle said.

“Again, this is not a part of collective bargaining, this is talking about executive pay raises,” Lingle continued. “What went out yesterday had to do with politicians – elected politicians – judges and the members of my cabinet and the deputies, who are certainly, in my opinion, very deserving of a raise but recognize it’s a time of shared sacrifice for the state.”

By Laurie Au

As Mayor Mufi Hannemann prepares for his second inauguration, he will likely change his Cabinet slightly that could include bringing in outgoing state Rep. Kirk Caldwell.

The only official change at this point in Hannemann’s Cabinet is the departure of Henry Eng, director of the busy Department of Planning and Permitting, who is retiring at the end of this year.

But Hannemann declined to elaborate on other directors rumored to be leaving the city after his first term, as he continues to meet with them individually.

“I’m very much knee deep into the whole Cabinet reshuffling, reassignment,” Hannemann said in an interview with reporters. “Some of them are opting to take retirement or go back into the civil service position. I’m not at liberty right now to say who’s going where.”

Hannemann, who has had several Cabinet changes, has a pattern of moving directors around internally or promoting city employees.

One person that has a strong chance of joining the administration include Hannemann ally, Caldwell, who lost his seat in Legislature. He filed to run for City Council, in part because of Hannemann’s influence, but was disqualified from both seats due to a procedural mix up.

Many had speculated whether Caldwell would fill the city’s No. 2 spot as managing director, which would put him in a nice spot to run for mayor should Hannemann seek higher office in 2010.
Both had declined to comment on specific positions.

“Kirk is very much in the mix for something in this administration,” Hannemann said. “He has expressed an interest, and that’s all I can say right now.”

Caldwell said, “I would look at whatever offers would come along and look to see if that was something I could assist the city with and the mayor. I can’t get more specific because there’s nothing specific on the table.”

Hannemann said he could have more concrete Cabinet decisions by next week or at the latest before Jan. 2, his inauguration day.

By Laurie Au

City Councilman Nestor Garcia, now chairman of the busy Transportation and Public Works committee, hinted at possible changes in the City Council’s leadership.

Garcia, when talking about a proposal to change the rail transit route to the airport, said at today’s committee meeting he’ll leave several measures up to “the next chairman of this committee.”

With Todd Apo replacing Barbara Marshall as chairman of the City Council, that means there will be a shake up in the City Council committees.

Apo will have the sole power of choosing committee chairs, a critical component in determining the dynamics of this already bitterly-divided body.

Apo, who aligns himself with Mayor Mufi Hannemann on many issues, said this morning he has given more thought to the committee appointments, but didn’t go into specifics.

“I’ve given it more thought,” said Apo, who served as chairman of the powerful Budget Committee. “It’s a regular daily mental play. I’ve started talking to members about what their desires are and their views for the broader council. Nothing’s going to be decided until early December.”

Council members are already vying for the top committees: Budget, Zoning, Transportation and Public Works and arguably Planning and Sustainability.

Allies of Apo include Garcia, Gary Okino and Rod Tam. Apo also served as vice chairman under Marshall, who is recovering from chemotherapy treatment for colon cancer.

This may also be a time for Apo to reach out to the dissidents of the City Council — Donovan Dela Cruz, Charles Djou and Romy Cachola — to possibly capture the five votes needed to gain control of the City Council.

Councilman-elect Duke Bainum, who is replacing Ann Kobayashi, is ambitious and has already served on the City Council and could lobby for a leadership spot. It still remains too early to tell if Bainum will align himself with the majority of the council that typically sides with the administration or with the dissidents.