Another regent resigns at UH
| • | Bill would expand board, shift power |
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer
Citing the increasing demands of his business, Duane Kurisu has resigned from the University of Hawai'i Board of Regents, giving Gov. Linda Lingle the chance to appoint her eighth representative to the 12-member governing board.
Kurisu said the time demanded by his business "doesn't permit me to spend the time I feel I need to perform my duties as a regent.
"The business time demands have gone up, and the demand for time from the board has gone up, and something had to give," Duane Kurisu said.
"The business time demands have gone up, and the demand for time from the board has gone up, and something had to give."
Kurisu's resignation is the second in six months, and the fourth in 14 months. Those vacancies, plus four retirements last June, were part of a changing of the guard on the board that approves and sets policy for the university.
With the latest resignations, Lingle appointees are firmly in voting control on the board.
The last two members to resign were appointed by Gov. Ben Cayetano. In July, Maui regent Everett Dowling left the board over the appearance of a conflict of interest. The board has since signed a contract with a Dowling company to purchase land and build a base camp to enable expansion of astronomy on Haleakala.
Before that, Big Island businessman Alan Ikawa retired, also citing pressing demands of business, and former Cheap Tickets entrepreneur Michael Hartley left because of UH President Evan Dobelle's endorsement of Democratic candidate Mazie Hirono in the gubernatorial race.
Board secretary David Iha said the board never has commented officially on resignations and would make no official statement.
In leaving, Kurisu said he had high regard for the regents — who "are working with the best interests of the university in mind" — and for Dobelle. "I'm firmly behind the vision that he and the systemwide administration have put together with their strategic plan," he said.
Dobelle called Kurisu "a man of honor" and "an extremely conscientious regent who cared about the future and the university, and could always be counted on to do the right thing.
Kurisu, a partner in the real-estate investment firm Kurisu & Fergus and owner of Pacificbasin Communications Inc., was the founder and owner of Hawai'i Winter Baseball in the late 1990s. He owns radio station KKEA, which holds the contract to broadcast UH games. The contract with KKEA/ 1420 AM Sports & Talk Radio was extended through the 2004-05 academic year in December 2002.
He is also one of five local business leaders who purchased minority stakes in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin in 2002.
Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.
