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Well, the long knives were out on Oahu last week. Longtime Wailuku Rep. Joe Souki saw that he had lost support of the majority of House members and resigned as speaker to avoid bloodshed in the House of Representatives.
The loss of influence for Maui County on state government is incalculable. Luckily, he will continue to be the representative from the 8th House District.
Most troubling about his ouster is that a couple of Maui County representatives supported Souki's challenger, Scott Saiki of Oahu. In the past, the Maui delegation realized that the only way to project strength is to stick together.
We'd remind those politicians that what goes around comes around, and we're certain opponents are going to mention Souki's name in future elections.
As we've noted often in the past when we've endorsed Souki for re-election, he is truly everybody's representative. We remember Maui Chamber of Commerce President Pamela Tumpap telling us that Souki even helps those with views he doesn't support get their ideas heard in the Legislature.
As we noted in several of our endorsements of Souki: "He is simply Maui's gem and takes seriously his role of representing all of his constituents."
By all accounts, he is not only a great legislator, but also a fine person. We're glad he will still be there in the Legislature -- but Maui County and the state of Hawaii are going to miss his strong and decent leadership.
* Editorials reflect the opinion of the publisher.