For the third time in less than a month, the Hawai'i Tourism Authority's board has canceled a meeting over the fate of embattled CEO Rex Johnson.

HTA chairman Kelvin Bloom said a board meeting scheduled for today had to be pushed back to next Wednesday after the board was unable to secure a quorum.

"I'm both disappointed and frustrated," Bloom said.

Johnson, the HTA's head since 2002, is facing 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.

Under state law, the HTA needs seven of its 12 voting board members present for a quorum. According to Bloom, six members committed to the meeting, another three were off island and three — attorney Vernon Char, Ko Olina Resort executive John Toner and Michael Kobayashi, president of Kobayashi Travel Service Ltd. — are in town but unavailable for today's meeting.

Char and Kobayashi did not return calls from The Advertiser yesterday, and Toner could not be reached.

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

The HTA had tried to schedule an emergency meeting about Johnson after The Advertiser reported Sept. 12 that he exchanged racist and sexist e-mails on his state computer with friends on the Mainland. But that meeting was called off after Attorney General Mark Bennett determined that the HTA had not met the strict legal requirements for holding an emergency meeting.

The board scheduled a regular meeting on Sept. 29 but canceled that after it failed to secure a quorum because several members were attending a tourism conference in Japan. The board then reset the meeting for yesterday but again failed to get a quorum.

Bloom said the board has a quorum for Wednesday's meeting.

Alphonso Braggs, president of the Honolulu branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, criticized the HTA board's failure to meet on the matter.

On Saturday, the NAACP and several other local civic groups marched down Waikiki's Kalakaua Avenue, calling for Johnson's ouster. Braggs said the groups collected more than 300 signatures in support, including some from visitors from around the world.

"I don't know if they feel the same sense of importance on this that others have," Braggs said of the board.

"My confidence in their ability to get together and resolve this matter is gone."