Lingle fills parole board

By Allison Schaefers
Advertiser Staff Writer

Gov. Linda Lingle, back to camera, yesterday appointed Edward Slavish, Dane Oda, and Albert Tufono to the three-member panel of Hawai'i Paroling Authority board. Tufono was named the board's chairman. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser HAWAI'I PAROLING AUTHORITY

CHAIRMAN Albert Tufono Age: 35 Home: 'Aiea Term: Expires in June 2004 Experience: Tufono served part-time on the parole authority earlier this year. He has been a corrections programs specialist with the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility since 2001 and was a recreation specialist for the city Department of Parks and Recreation in 1997-99 and for Washington state's Department of Parks and Recreation in 1992-97.

MEMBER Edward M. Slavish Age: 61 Home: Kane'ohe Term: Expires in June 2007 Experience: Slavish is the president of Slavish & Associates Inc., a commercial and real-estate brokerage and consulting firm; also president of Arizona Ventures Inc. in Phoenix and Tucson. He has served as vice president for Fort Street Ventures Inc., which acquired and managed several semi-historic commercial properties in downtown Honolulu. Slavish is also president of the John Howard Association, a nonprofit group that assists those involved in the criminal justice system in becoming productive members of the community.

MEMBER Dane K. Oda Age: 55 Home: Kaua'i Term: Expires in June 2006 Experience: Oda has spent 20 years as the Kaua'i terminal manager for the stevedore firm McCabe, Hamilton and Renny. He served as a sergeant with the Kaua'i Police Department; research coordinator for the Kaua'i County prosecuting attorney's office; and a research assistant with the State Law Enforcement and Juvenile Delinquency Planning Agency. Oda also been an instructor at Kaua'i Community College where he taught courses in psychology, sociology, political science, and criminal and deviant behavior.

Albert Tufono, a corrections program administrator with the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility since 2001, was named chairman of the three-member panel. His term expires next year. He served on the authority earlier this year on a part-time, temporary basis.

Dane K. Oda, the Kaua'i terminal manager for stevedore firm McCabe, Hamilton and Renny, and a former police sergeant, was named to a three-year term. Business man Edward Slavish received a four-year term.

The appointments are effective immediately but will require Senate confirmation when the Legislature meets next year.

Lingle said she's looking to the new board to "reestablish credibility with the people of Hawai'i."

"The Parole Board has faced some high-profile challenges in recent months," she said. "I'm confident our three new board members will focus on the job before them and carry out their responsibilities fairly, with the utmost integrity, and with an overriding concern for the safety of our community."

Under state law, the parole board decides when prisoners are released on parole. It supervises parolees and can seek their return to prison if they violate conditions of parole. The board also investigates and makes recommendations on applications for gubernatorial pardons.

The chairman's salary is about $78,000 a year, and board members get paid about $35 an hour to attend meetings, according to paroling officials.

Yesterday was the first time that all three members were appointed at once, said Russell Pang, spokesman for the Governor's Office.

In November, then Gov. Ben Cayetano placed Chairman Alfred K. Beaver Sr. on paid leave after it was disclosed that internal affairs investigators were examining an effort by Beaver to commute the sentence of a man convicted of an armed robbery.

Beaver resigned in March, after Lingle gave him a choice of resigning or being removed. Lani Rae Garcia also created a vacancy when she left the board in April following an arrest on domestic abuse charges.

A third vacancy occurred when board chair Mary Tiwanak's term expired on June 30, Pang said.

The resignations forced the parole board to shut down for about two weeks in April and caused about 158 hearings to be rescheduled, said Tommy Johnson, paroles and pardons administrator.

Tufuno said the caseload is huge, but he is confident the board can catch up when parole hearings resume Monday.

Approximately 69 hearings scheduled for this week have been delayed to give new members a chance to get briefed on the job, Johnson said. The hearings will be rescheduled within the next 45 days, Johnson said.

Delays are hard on the board because there's a high-volume workload, averaging about 320 to 400 cases per month, Johnson said.

The paroling authority has been a three-person board since 1976 when there were about 500 prisoners eligible for parole. Since then the population of prisoners eligible for parole has grown to 2,600 and the authority's workload has gone up 700 percent, he said.

Hearing demands are also more complex, Johnson said.

"The prisoners have more social issues and needs," he said. "It takes more time to make sure each person gets the right services."

Tufono, named to fill Beaver's term, which expires next June, said board members have a "great responsibility to protect the public safety interests of the community."

Oda said he will focus on inmate recidivism. "I'd like to see less people returning to prison," he said. "The idea is to give prisoners the services they need to help them get back out, not to see them playing the game and winning the system."

Slavish, who serves as president of a nonprofit that helps those involved in the criminal justice system rejoin the community, said he has strong views on rehabilitating the prison population.

Reach Allison Schaefers at aschaefers@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8110.