South Carolina senator says he'll co-sponsor Akaka bill
From
the
Advertiser:Another
U.S. senator has promised to co-sponsor the Native Hawaiian Government
Reorganization Act, known as the Akaka
bill. Sen.
Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) confirmed his support with Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday.
Lingle met with Graham when he was in Hawai'i in January and again last week
while she was in Washington,
D.C. Earlier,
Sens. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) also said they would
sign on as co-sponsors. In addition to Hawai'i Sens. Daniel Akaka and Dan
Inouye, other co-sponsors include Sens. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) and Sen. Maria
Cantwell
(D-Wash.). The
bill needs 51 votes to pass the Senate, where 47 members are Democrats and 53
are Republicans.[Correction: actually,
there are 44 Democrats and one Independent who caucuses with them, and 55
Republicans.]Update:
Here's a longer article
on the same topic from the Hawaii
Tribune-Herald
Posted: Fri - March 11, 2005 at 11:46 AM