Attorney chosen to be Maui judge
By Christie Wilson
Advertiser Neighbor Island Editor
The Judicial Selection Commission has named attorney Joel August to fill a vacancy on the Maui Circuit Court after Gov. Ben Cayetano failed to make his pick by the required deadline.
Christie Wilson • The Honolulu Advertiser
Judiciary spokeswoman Marsha Kitagawa and other court watchers said it is the first time that a governor has missed an opportunity to fill a judicial vacancy.
Joel August was a Circuit Court nominee.
Normally, the Judicial Selection Commission sends a list of six candidates to the governor, who has 30 days to make a selection. If the governor fails to act within that time, the task is placed back in the commission's hands.
The chief justice of the Hawai'i Supreme Court appoints district court judges.
Cayetano press secretary Kim Murakawa said missing the 30-day deadline was a simple oversight on the part of the governor, who has been preoccupied with budget matters and other pressing concerns.
Cayetano described all the candidates as "excellent" and was confident the commission would make a good decision, she said.
The Maui vacancy was created when Artemio Baxa left the bench Dec. 28.
Commission chairwoman Amy Agbayani said the panel decided not to release the names of the five other finalists for the judicial post.
August's appointment will go before the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday morning, with full Senate confirmation required.
Agbayani said she doesn't expect significant opposition since he is well-known in the legal community. "For me, I liked that he was ex-Peace Corps and he seemed to really have a strong connection to Maui, and he's an excellent litigator," she said.
She also noted that August was president of the Hawai'i State Bar Association in 2000 and gained bench experience as a part-time Family Court judge from 1982 to1999.
The 61-year-old attorney has been a partner in the Wailuku law firm of Lowenthal & August since 1980. A Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador during the 1960s, he earned his law degree from Boalt Hall at the University of California at Berkeley.
August was a staff attorney in the Legal Aid Society of Hawai'i's Maui office from 1971 to 1977, served as legal counsel to the Kaho'olawe Island Conveyance Commission from 1990 to 1992, and is involved in numerous community activities.
August was a finalist for Maui Circuit Court judgeships in 1998 and 1999 and for a seat on the Intermediate Court of Appeals in 1995, but was passed over by Cayetano all three times.
"I'm deeply honored that the commissioners have seen fit to place their confidence in me," he said yesterday.
