Rex Johnson tendered his resignation this evening after a daylong meeting of the Hawai'i Tourism Authority's board of directors.

His resignation as the HTA's head came after the meeting at which the board took testimony from more than a dozen supporters and critics in the morning before going into executive session.

Following Johnson's announcement, HTA Board Chairman Kelvin Bloom said: "At this point certain accusations have made Rex a lightning rod for controversy. This has become a distraction to the effectiveness of the HTA and we respect his decision. Rex's decision is clearly in the best interest of all concerned."

Bloom said an interim CEO will be named soon and a search committee wills be organized immediately to find a permanent replacement for Johnson..

Johnson thanked his supporters. "I want to thank thank tourism industry leadership, community, staff and friends who have shown me so much support. I intend to support hawaii's tourism industry in whatever way I can.

People speaking in favor of Johnson's retention during the HTA meeting included longtime friend and former Gov. John Waihee, HTA staffers, and Murray Towill, president of the Hawaii Hotel and Lodging Association.

Those who spoke in favor of terminating Johnson included local civil rights attorney Daphne Barbee-Wooten and Andre Wooten, of the African American Lawyers' Association.

The HTA also received written testimony from more than 100 people split about 50-50 for and against Johnson.

After about an hour and a half of testimony, the board took the matter into executive session behind closed doors.

Johnson, the HTA's head since 2002, faced harsh criticism from local civic leaders and Gov. Linda Lingle for exchanging racist and sexist jokes by e-mail on his state computer.

The disclosure of the e-mails came after the HTA's board in August cut his annual pay by $40,000 to $200,000 and shortened his four-year contract to one year after 23 adult-content e-mails were found on his state computer.

Johnson has apologized for the e-mails but has said he is not racist or sexist.