Nominees deserve thorough review

THE ISSUE State senators are reviewing Gov. Linda Lingle's nominations to boards, commissions and her Cabinet.

An unintended upshot of the state Legislature's special Hawaii Superferry session is that the Senate must review and vote on 101 of Gov. Linda Lingle's appointees to various boards and commissions as well as her nominations for important Cabinet and judicial positions.

Though most of the appointments seem routine and in the course of a regular session might not attract meticulous public examination, nominees for department leadership posts should receive attentive consideration. That said, the governor's candidates to head the departments of labor, land and natural resources and prisons appear to have the necessary qualifications.

State law requires that the Senate act on interim gubernatorial appointments at the earliest legislative session, which would have been next year had not Lingle directed lawmakers to convene to correct the ferry problem.

Among the most consequential nominations is that of Laura H. Thielen as chairperson of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, a job left vacant when the Senate rejected Peter Young earlier this year. The agency, which oversees Hawaii's wealth of public land and ocean assets, merits stable management and Thielen's experience and knowledge of public policy issues will enable her to provide that.