Ito, Tokioka Removed as House Veterans Committee Chair, Vice Chair
Representatives Ken Ito and James Tokioka have lost their committee leadership positions, and it looks like it might have been because of a failed plan to overthrow House leadership.
The Hawaii Independent // The Rotunda
January 24, 2018
A resolution was adopted during today’s floor session at the State House of Representatives removing Representatives Ken Ito and James Tokioka from their positions as chair and vice chair, respectively, of the House Committee on Veterans, Military & International Affairs, & Culture & the Arts (VMI).
House Resolution 9, introduced by Majority Leader Della Au Belatti, replaces them with Reps. Matt LoPresti and Beth Fukumoto, respectively.
Reps. Choy, Creagan, DeCoite, Har, Say, Souki and Tokioka voted against the resolution, while Reps. Cachola, Hashem, Kong, Chris Lee, McDermott, Tupola and Ward were excused.
Rep. Ito released the following statement shortly after the vote:
Today, I was approached by Speaker of the House of Representatives, Scott Saiki, and was informed that I would be removed, effective immediately, from my post as Chair of the House Committee on Veterans, Military & International Affairs, & Culture & the Arts (VMI).
I believe the reason for my removal from the VMI committee is purely political. I recently signed a petition supporting Rep. James Tokioka of Kauaʻi as Speaker of the House of Representative, and that was the reason that prompted my removal as chair of the VMI committee. I was unwilling to compromise my loyalty and friendship with Rep. Tokioka, who is Vice-Chair of the VMI Committee. The nature of the current political environment in the House is one that operates in the dark, and with retribution for taking a stance that may not be popular to House leadership. I believe that we are a democracy, and all sides should be heard. This is the people’s House. I have full confidence that Rep. Tokioka represents this important, necessary change for the House.
As early as last week, The Independent had heard rumors that Rep. Tokioka was gunning for Speaker of the House Scott Saiki’s position, and was working on obtaining the necessary votes to overthrow the current House leadership. Tokioka is a member of the faction that held power prior to 2013 under the leadership of Speaker Emeritus Calvin Say.
Because Rep. Tokioka’s efforts happened in caucus and with a floor resolution, there is no written record of what exactly transpired leading up to the vote, or which representatives may have signed-on to overthrow Speaker Saiki’s leadership team. It appears, however, that the effort backfired.
Rep. Ito, who apparently did not even vote against his own removal as VMI chair (see vote count on HR9), held only a handful of hearings last session and didn’t even attend all of them. LoPresti, by contrast, has already been involved in the issues of cyber security, net neutrality, the false missile alert and other potentially relevant VMI committee issues before he was appointed chair.
