Delay in filling Cabinet posts draws criticism

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

Six positions in Gov. Linda Lingle's Cabinet have not been filled, more than a month after her inauguration.

Six positions in Gov. Linda Lingle's Cabinet still have not been filled. Advertiser library photo

The governor appoints the directors of 16 state departments or agencies, all of whom must be confirmed by the Senate during session. Those who have not yet been appointed are the directors of business economic development and tourism; human resources; human services; land and natural resources; taxation; and transportation.

Lingle, who was on Maui on Thursday and Friday, made no appointments last week. But Bob Awana, Lingle's chief of staff, said that he expected at least two more appointments this week and that the full slate should be on board when the Legislature convenes Jan. 15.

"We are coming down the stretch," Awana said. The governor has received a list of finalists for the remaining posts from her transition team, he said. Final interviews and background checks still remain to be done.

"Our goal is not to make them quick but to make them right," Awana said. A dozen subcommittees reviewed 2,300 applications in a period of weeks and then made recommendations. "I think it would tend to take longer than if the governor handpicked all her Cabinet from amongst friends," he said.

But former Gov. Ben Cayetano, Lingle's Democratic predecessor, said he also received hundreds of applications and had committees review them and submit short lists.

Cayetano also said that the positions she has left vacant are critical ones. "Unless Lingle chooses people from within the department, the longer she takes to fill those posts puts the people chosen at a distinct disadvantage," Cayetano said. "There is a pretty steep learning curve."

Senate Ways and Means Chairman Brian Taniguchi said agency chiefs have traditionally met with the Senate and House money committees before the opening day of the Legislature.

But because of the transition, legislators agreed to a request by the Lingle administration to postpone those meetings until the session starts. Officials from state agencies outside the purview of the governor's office, meanwhile, such as the judiciary and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, will be visiting the Capitol this week as will officials from three of the four counties, Taniguchi said.

"We're not able to do a lot of the pre-session work on what the budget looks like," he said. "That is a problem but because of the circumstances, it's something we have to live with. It's not insurmountable."

House Majority Leader Scott Saiki said he doesn't believe the lack of a complete Cabinet will affect the schedule for the session, adding that legislators, on the whole, are empathetic. "Since this is her first Cabinet, she wants to be very comfortable with those she selects," he said.

Awana said that agencies without appointed department heads are being run temporarily by long-time division or branch chiefs and that neither service to the public, nor the Lingle agenda, is being compromised.

"We operate on a team basis," he said. "So we are looking to the division heads to work closely with the new directors, to bring forward their institutional knowledge."

To put things in perspective, Cayetano had all of his full directors in place by mid-December of 1994, the year he took office, and most of his deputies picked by Christmas. After John Waihee became governor in 1988, he had all but one of his department directors in place by the new year, naming four on Dec. 31.

Observers say that the slow progress can be largely attributed to the fact that Lingle, unlike Cayetano or Waihee, is a Republican displacing a Democratic-based bureaucracy that has been ensconced at the State Capitol for 40 years.

But both Lingle and Cayetano said as far as they're concerned, party politics is not a consideration.

Lingle has stated repeatedly that transition committee members were told not to ask about or consider party affiliation. "It's not relevant to the selection process," Awana said.

Said Cayetano: "I really don't think the transition from Democrat to GOP has anything to do with it."

Ira Rohter, a political science professor at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa and a chairman of the Hawai'i Green Party, said the issue is not as simplistic as finding Republicans to take the place of long-entrenched Democrats.

"You've got a whole lineage of people who have been part of the system, and I think she's just saying 'no thank you,'" Rohter said. "Not that they're bad people, but we really need people with a different vision of running government."

While Cayetano may have been looking for the most competent people to run the agencies, "I think Lingle has got a very different set of ideas of how bureaucracy should operate." he said. "So it's not just the usual list of people to go over. I think she's bringing in folks who haven't been part of the mainstream government. Some have been involved in policy-making, but I think the challenge is to find folks who are creative thinkers."

Lingle also has complained that the $85,302-a-year salary paid to department directors has hindered the ability to find the most qualified applicants at a time when top corporate managers routinely earn $200,000 or more.

Cayetano and Rohter agreed that the salary restriction has not helped her search.

"Doing political work is an honorable profession," Rohter said. "But there should be enough money in it to say 'OK, I can take four years out of my life. I don't think we need to take vows of chastity.'"

Salaries of department heads are set by state statute. Lingle has proposed creating a bipartisan salary commission to deal with executive pay, similar to the system that exists at the county level.

Reach Gordon Pang at 525-8070 or at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.