The Speaker's PAC

Chad Blair/Civil Beat

Calvin Say has been speaker of the Hawaii House of Representatives since 1999 and has survived several attempts to unseat him from the top job.

And yet, with the support of a majority of fellow House Democrats, he has been re-elected speaker like clockwork every two years.

Turns out that last Aug. 1, 27 of those supporters received $2,000 each from a political action committee called Citizens for Responsive Government. Many of the others are committee chairs.

They included the top-ranking House leaders: Speaker Emeritus Joe Souki, Vice Speaker Joey Manahan, Majority Leader Pono Chong and Finance Chair Marcus Oshiro.

The chair and treasurer of the PAC? Calvin Azama, the speaker's own chief of staff.

According to one report, a former treasurer is Brian Takeshita, who worked for Say as a special assistant and is now assistant chief clerk in the House.

Say did not return a call requesting comment on Friday.

All told, the PAC gave $53,000 to the supporters, according to its July 1 - Dec. 31 filing with the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission.

It still had more than $100,000 cash on hand at the end of the year.

Only one House dissident — the name for House Democrats who have tried to depose the speaker — received money from the PAC. That was Linda Ichiyama, who later switched her loyalty to Say.

Two other House reps who got money, Jo Jordan and Derek Kawakami, were appointments to replace lawmakers who left the House.

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