Posted on: Friday, April 26, 2002

DeMello confirmed for land board

Associated Press

Starting July 1, Gerald DeMello will fill the Big Island seat on the state Board of Land and Natural Resources.

Gov. Ben Cayetano's nomination of DeMello, University of Hawai'i-Hilo's director of community relations, was unanimously approved by the state Senate on Wednesday.

Sen. Lorraine Inouye, D-1st (Hawi, N. Hilo, Waimea), said that in response to her inquiry she was advised by the state attorney general's office that DeMello will have to recuse himself when the board votes on university matters.

Cayetano originally nominated former Hawai'i County planning director Virginia Goldstein for the four-year post but withdrew that after what Inouye called a flood of protests she received about Goldstein's actions as planning director in then-mayor Stephen Yamashiro's pro-development administration.