Election chief's reappointment upheld
By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
The state attorney general's office has affirmed a state panel's reappointment of Chief Elections Officer Dwayne Yoshina.
A member of the Elections Appointment and Review Panel, Warner "Kimo" Sutton, sought the opinion after the panel voted 3-2 at its Sept. 4 meeting to reappoint Yoshina. Sutton argued the vote was not legal because it did not follow parliamentary procedures and because the panel did not advertise the chief election officer's position, as it had decided to do earlier this year.
The opposing votes were by members appointed by Republicans. The panel's meeting, which was in recess, reconvened yesterday morning.
A legal opinion by Deputy Attorney General Gary Kam, which was presented at the meeting, said the panel could act on Yoshina's reappointment request before publicly advertising for applicants.
"The EARP has the authority to reappoint the incumbent based upon the performance evaluation of the incumbent performed by the EARP," the opinion read. "In this case, the EARP conducted a performance evaluation of Mr. Yoshina."
The opinion noted that the meeting's agenda appears to have been filed timely, all members were present at the meeting, and that three members voted to reappoint Yoshina.
"The 'concurrence of the majority' of the EARP is all that is necessary to make the action valid," the opinion states.
Sutton yesterday said he was disgusted.
"We're not going after Dwayne here, we're going after the process, to make it an above-board process," Sutton said. "That's arrogant as to say, 'Well, it's our way or no way.' "
Chairman Ray Pua has said the panel had no money to advertise the chief election officer's position.
Yoshina could not be reached for comment.
Yoshina, who is paid $77,966 a year, was harshly criticized in 1998 after it was learned that seven electronic ballot-counting machines malfunctioned, prompting an unprecedented recount of the general election. The recount confirmed the original outcomes.
The 1998 elections were the first in which Hawai'i used optical-scanning vote counters, replacing the punch-card system.
But while the attorney general's opinion appears to have settled the issue of Yoshina's reappointment, bickering on the panel continues.
Pua yesterday called for the panel to vote to remove Sutton as its vice chairman, while Sutton is calling for another attorney general's opinion on whether that vote is valid because it wasn't on the agenda.
"I was offended at his remarks in the newspaper when he called me demented, and that was very cruel and malicious," Pua said. Pua said he believed Sutton was referring to Pua's brain tumor in 1996 in which he temporarily suffered from dementia.
"He was a stumbling block in everything that we tried to do," Pua said. "We have to be a team and work together."
Sutton said he merely called Pua "demented" and was not referring to his illness.
"I'm usually one to voice out my opinion," he said. "He does have the two votes to make a majority so that he has now taken everything out of all context of any type of order, rules and refuses to listen to any other reason other than what he wants."
Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.
