Posted on: Friday, June 18, 2004

Lingle-appointed regent sworn in

•	Dobelle regrets backing Hirono
•	McClain confident in new role
•	Interim UH president backs athletics
•	Lee Cataluna: No one's innocent in Dobelle brouhaha
	Thoughts? Join our discussion

By Bruce Dunford
Associated Press

University of Hawai'i alumnus Andres Albano Jr. was sworn in yesterday as the newest member of the Board of Regents, a panel caught up in the fallout from Tuesday's firing of UH President Evan Dobelle.

Gov. Linda Lingle said yesterday she'll name another interim regent member today at UH-Hilo and expects to name one more within a week, bringing to 10 the number she will have named to the 12-member board. The regents serve staggered four-year terms.

By next month there will be two remaining regents who were appointees of former Gov. Ben Cayetano, a Democrat. They are Patricia Lee, an attorney who serves as chairwoman, and Myron Yamasato of the Big Island, a vice president for Waikoloa Land Co.

The terms for two other Cayetano appointees — Charles Kawakami and Walter Nunokawa — expire at the end of this month.

"Since I've been governor, who would have any idea we'd have this many appointments?" said Lingle, a Republican elected in 2002.

She said the large turnover in the prized but unpaid positions during her first 18 months in office appears to be coincidental and related to a number of resignations.

Lingle's regent appointees include: Kitty Lagareta, a public relations executive and key campaigner for and confidante of the governor; Byron Bender, a retired university professor of linguistics; Trent Kakuda, a university law school student recommended by state Senate President Robert Bunda; Alvin Tanaka, president of Pacific Transfer LLC; former state Rep. Jane Tatibouet, a former Hawai'i Republican Party chairwoman and executive vice president of AST Holdings LLC; and James Haynes, president of Maui Petroleum.

Albano, a vice president with CB Richard Ellis Hawai'i Inc., a commercial real estate firm, has a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and a master's in business administration.

He has been a registered professional engineer and real estate broker since 1969 and is a past president of the Development Association of Hawai'i, the Hawaii Developers Council and the Honolulu chapter of the National Association of Professional Engineers.

Albano was one of 185 new members of state boards and commissions sworn in during ceremonies at Washington Place.