Democrats trying to give Legislature more say in appointments

Against the advice of leading academic authorities, the Legislature is moving to give itself and special-interest constituencies at the University of Hawai'i more say over who the governor can appoint to the university's Board of Regents.

Current law allows Gov. Linda Lingle to appoint anybody she pleases, subject to confirmation by the Senate.

But a constitutional amendment generated by the Legislature and approved by voters last year requires the governor to appoint regents from a pool of candidates selected by a new advisory council.

The constitutional measure left it for the Legislature to decide how many members the candidate advisory council would have and how they would be chosen, which is the focus of a fight this session between the Republican Lingle and Democratic legislators.

Legislation (SB 14) being finalized in the Senate Education Committee would establish a seven-member advisory council with one appointment each going to the governor, Senate president, House speaker and groups representing UH faculty, students, alumni and emeritus regents.

The panel could give the governor as few as two candidates to choose from for each regent vacancy — effectively transferring appointment power to the Senate, which can reject the governor's first choice if senators like the other candidate better.

Lingle, who vetoed a similar bill last year, proposes that she appoint all members of the advisory panel that is intended to serve her, but the Education Committee killed her bill (SB 617) and is fast-tracking the Democratic version so a Lingle veto can be overridden before the session ends.

It could spell a year of major transition at UH, with one of the 12 regents' positions already vacant and the terms of Lingle's six original appointees expiring June 30. The Democratic bill increases the number of regents to 15 with strict geographical requirements, potentially putting 10 positions into play this year.

Both bills allow regents to stay on the job until their replacements are confirmed to maintain a quorum, but it's unclear whether this year's regents will be appointed under the new or old law.

Democrats say change is needed to remove politics from regent selection after Lingle included political supporters among her appointments.

But to the governor's backers, it's just the latest in a series of Democratic "handcuff" measures intended to strip powers from Hawai'i's first Republican governor in 40 years.

UH President David McClain agrees with Lingle that the "best practice" from an academic standpoint would be for the governor to appoint all members of the candidate advisory committee. "A 'Noah's Ark' style candidate advisory committee actually injects more politics into the regent selection process, not less," he said in testimony to the Senate Education Committee.

He's backed by the national organization of university governing boards and the two accrediting panels for the UH system, which testified that regents should serve the broad interests of the state, not segments of the state or special interests.

It's hardly comforting that Democrats say their proposal is modeled on the state Judicial Selection Commission, with memories so fresh of that panel's disgraceful political entanglement in the scandal involving the state Supreme Court and Kamehameha Schools trustees.

The Democratic plan raises troubling separation-of-power issues as legislators horn in on the front end of executive appointments when they already have considerable clout on the back end with the Senate's power to advise and consent.

Mostly, it's discouraging that UH could be in for more turmoil just as it's settling down from the chaos surrounding the firing of former President Evan Dobelle.

It seems we can never can commit to a course for our state university and stick to it, leaving UH perpetually mired in mediocrity and unfinished business.

David Shapiro, a veteran Hawai'i journalist, can be reached by e-mail at dave@volcanicash.net. Read his daily blog at blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com.