Senate presses Lingle for nominees
By Bruce Dunford
Associated Press
Republican Gov. Linda Lingle's tardy nominations to fill vacancies on the University of Hawai'i Board of Regents and the Hawaii Tourism Authority are the latest acts in the political war with the Legislature's Democratic leaders.
Senate President Robert Bunda notified Lingle on Wednesday that he was extending until 10 a.m. today the deadline for her to submit nominations to the Board of Regents and the HTA.
When asked about it yesterday, Lingle said she's "not positive" she'll be meeting the Senate's deadline, which had originally been Wednesday.
"As you know, I have the ability to make interim appointments after the (legislative) session and that may occur in many of the most important boards and commissions because it does take quite a while to offer people, to encourage people to serve," she said.
Lingle said with the Senate's action last year denying confirmation of attorney Shelton Jim On and businessman Edward Sultan as UH regents and this year's rejection of state Chief Negotiator Ted Hong's Circuit Court appointment, "it gets increasingly difficult to get people to step forward."
The governor noted that while pressing her to submit nominations to the Board of Regents, the Senate's Education Committee has yet to vote on her nominations of interim regents Jane Tatibouet and James Haynes II. The committee held their confirmation hearings last week.
If Tatibouet, a former Republican lawmaker, Republican Party Chairwoman and hotel executive, and Haynes, a Maui businessman, aren't confirmed by the Senate, their terms will end upon the Legislature's May 6 adjournment.
In a letter to Lingle extending the Senate's deadline for her nominations until today, Bunda, D-22nd (North Shore, Wahiawa), said the Senate needs time to schedule hearings, take testimony and put the nominations on its agenda for a vote.
"A failure to act on your part, i.e., your naming of interim appointees, means that this mandated process is circumvented and precludes us from fulfilling our constitutionally mandated duty," he wrote.
After Bunda announced his deadline extension yesterday, Education Committee Chairman Norman Sakamoto, D-15th (Waimalu, Airport, Salt Lake), told his colleagues he hopes Lingle will provide regent nominations in time.
"These are policy-making positions and we need to do our job to hold a hearing, receive testimony, positive or note, and ideally confirm these people prior to their actually getting into the policy-making role," he said.
As for the delay in recommending the Tatibouet and Haynes appointments, Sakamoto said he wanted to give senators time to look over the nominees' written answers to questions from the committee.
