Senate approves
Graulty for
Circuit Court seat

By Craig Gima
Star-Bulletin

A former state senator is set to be sworn in as Hawaii's next Circuit Court judge.

Rey Graulty, who served eight years in the House and Senate and is now the state's insurance commissioner, was confirmed by the full Senate yesterday after criticism from a lone dissenter that the appointment gave the appearance of political favoritism.

Sen. Sam Slom (R, Hawaii Kai) questioned whether Graulty was the best candidate for the job when other candidates included current District Court judges and an attorney with more trial experience.

"What message do we send to the public, who has a perception that in our state anything involving the government, the overriding consideration is who you know rather than what you know?" Slom asked.

Other senators praised Graulty as a man of integrity who is more than qualified to be a Circuit judge because of his 17 years of legal experience and years of community service before his time in the Legislature.

"I think that 55 people testified at my hearing on the kind of person and lawyer I was, and I think I'll stand on what the 55 people said rather than what the one person who disagreed said," Graulty said.

Graulty said that politics is involved in any appointment.

"The governor is not going to appoint someone who disagrees with him politically," he said.

He added that he has no real opinion on a pay raise for judges because the current annual salary of $86,780 for a Circuit judge will still be more than what he makes as insurance commissioner.

"I'm going to leave that (the pay raise) to the governor, the chief justice and the Legislature," he said.