Posted on: Wednesday, December 3, 2003
EDITORIAL
Housing appointment leaves questions
The process by which a new executive director for the state's Housing and Community Development Corp. was chosen leaves little confidence that a system of cronyism and insider politics has been eliminated from state government.
Getting rid of what she called a "good old boys" system of governing was a major plank in Gov. Linda Lingle's successful campaign for governor. This was a theme that resonated with the voters who felt the halls of government were ripe for new ideas, new faces and new ways of doing things.
And while Lingle has brought in many new and attractive faces to government, it is equally true that she has been forced to rely extensively on close family and political friends, Republican party operatives and associates from Maui.
Some of that was inevitable. After all, the ranks of public servants had been filled by and with Democrats for decades. The GOP "bench" was not deep.
Still, if the Lingle administration truly hopes to set a new standard for doing business, it will have to get beyond the process that resulted in the appointment of longtime Lingle friend and associate Stephanie Aveiro as head of the Housing and Community Development Corp.
By all accounts Aveiro is qualified for the post. She headed the department of Housing and Human Concerns on Maui under Lingle. We wish her success.
The issue, however, is how Aveiro got to the position she now holds. Aveiro moved to Honolulu after Lingle was elected governor and took up the post of managing the governor's residence at Washington Place. She was also appointed to the Housing and Community Development Corp. board by Lingle.
That board position became open when the previous board resigned under pressure from federal Department of Housing and Urban Renewal official Michael Liu, a former GOP state senator. Liu accused former Development Corp. executive director Sharyn Miyashiro of conflict of interest after the board awarded construction contracts to a company partially owned by her ex-husband.
Miyashiro also resigned, leaving the executive post vacant.
After that exercise in cleaning house, Liu urged the new Lingle board to conduct a nationwide search for Miyashiro's successor. However, after at least one potential successor turned down the post, the board turned to Aveiro.
Aveiro did not vote on her selection and will resign from the board.
Normally, federal regulations prohibit a member of the board of a federally financed housing agency from moving to an executive post within a one-year period. Liu waived that requirement in Aveiro's case.
So, at the end of the day you have a nationwide search reduced to a choice of a close political and personal friend of the governor followed by bureaucratic high-stepping to get past a rule that normally would have prohibited the appointment.
Hardly a way to signal that, in Hawai'i, it is no longer business as usual.
