Department Directors Confirmed by the Senate
by Hawaii State Senator Wil Espero
The Senate has had the pleasure of confirming several very well qualified, capable, competent administrators as directors of the different state departments. Five more directors were confirmed within the last week, in addition to the 8 already confirmed, bringing the total to 13 confirmations, out of the 15 nominated.
Congratulations to the four department directors who were recently re-confirmed for a second four-year term: Dr. Chiyome Fukino, Ted Liu, Lillian Koller, and Mark Bennett. Several senators praised these directors for implementing needed improvements and for good management of their departments.
Lawrence Reifurth, the current Deputy Director of the Department of Commerce & Consumer Affairs (DCCA), was confirmed as DCCA’s new Director. He replaces former Director Mark Recktenwald. The Senate confirmed Recktenwald 25-0 as the new Chief Judge of the Intermediate Court of Appeals.
Department Directors Confirmed by the Senate:
Accounting & General Services Russ Saito
Agriculture Sandra Lee Kunimoto
Attorney General Mark Bennett
Budget & Finance Georgina Kawamura
Business, Economic
Development & Tourism Theodore Liu
Commerce & Consumer Affairs Lawrence Reifurth (new)
Defense Major General Robert Lee
Hawaiian Home Lands Micah Kane
Health Dr. Chiyome Fukino
Human Resources Development Marie Laderta
Human Services Lillian Koller
Taxation Kurt Kawafuchi
Transportation Barry Fukunaga (new)
*re-confirmed for second term unless noted
Governor Lingle did not re-nominate two of her former Cabinet members, Rodney Haraga, Department of Transportation, and Nelson Befitel, Department of Labor. Governor Lingle instead nominated former Interim City Transportation Director Barry Fukunaga to replace Haraga. Fukunaga was confirmed by the Senate. Befitel’s term as director ends on May 3. The Governor has until May 2 to nominate a replacement, or name an interim director, until the next legislative session in 2008.
Peter Young, Director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, while also receiving kudos in some areas, was not re-confirmed for a second term. As my colleague Senator Les Ihara put it, he had concerns about re-confirming Peter Young based on publicly available information alone, but would reject the nomination based on information that is not public. Some issues which negatively impacted Young included the lack of a statewide dam safety inspection program, the deteriorating small boat harbors, staff turnover at the Historical Preservation office, and problems at the Bureau of Conveyances which have resulted in two on-going investigations.