Lingle nominates pair of judges

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — Gov. Linda Lingle has named Elizabeth Ann "Betsy" Strance as a Big Island Circuit Court judge, and Richard Thomas Bissen Jr. as a Maui Circuit Court judge.

Bissen

Bissen has served as interim director of the state Department of Public Safety while the Lingle administration seeks a permanent director for the agency, said Lingle spokesman Russell Pang. Former Public Safety Director John Peyton resigned in November to become head of the Rule of Law Department at the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Bissen was first deputy attorney general before he took the post with the Department of Public Safety, and worked with the American Civil Liberties Union and the U.S. Department of Justice to address concerns about conditions at the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility, the Lingle administration said.

Bissen was Maui County prosecuting attorney from 1995 to 2003, and also worked as a supervising deputy prosecutor handling violent crime and high-profile cases for the department. He previously was a law partner in the firm of Cardoza, Fukuoka and Bissen.

In a written statement released yesterday, Lingle said Bissen has been "a tremendous asset" to the state.

"While I am personally saddened that he will be leaving my administration, I know the public will continue to benefit from his legal expertise, strong work ethic and integrity as he returns home to Maui to the Circuit Court bench."

Big Island appointee Strance is a partner in the law firm of Strance and Nakoa, and has served as a per diem judge for the 3rd Circuit District and Family Courts since 1999.

As a per diem judge, Strance has presided over preliminary hearings; civil, criminal and traffic trials; domestic-abuse cases; divorce trials and motions; child and protective services cases; and juvenile criminal matters.

Strance was a partner with the law firm of Goodsill Anderson Quinn and Stifel, and an associate with the law firms of Peterson and Gravelle, and Greely Walker and Kowen.

Strance received her law degree from the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College, and her undergraduate degree from Willamette University.

Lingle selected Strance and Bissen from two separate lists of six candidates each submitted by the Judicial Selection Commission last month.

Strance and Bissen are Lingle's fifth and sixth appointments to the Circuit Court bench. Lingle has also appointed one justice to the Hawai'i Supreme Court and two to the Intermediate Court of Appeals.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.