Judge leaves bench
to go to school

District Judge Russell Blair says
he may pursue a career
in math or science

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By Debra Barayuga
dbarayuga@starbulletin.com

District Judge Russell Blair is going back to school to study math and chemistry at the University of Hawaii.

While he has been quite happy serving on the bench for the past six years, the former state senator and head of the Office of Consumer Protection confirmed yesterday he will not reapply for another six-year term.

"It's just that this other thing blossomed in an unanticipated way, and I feel I've got to do it now, see where it goes," said Blair, 51.

His term ends in November. Newspapers ran notices on Sunday seeking nominations for his replacement.

Gov. Ben Cayetano will have to appoint a replacement from a pool of candidates screened by the Judicial Selection Commission. He called Blair a "good public servant" and said he is sorry to see him step down.

"If he is going to study chemistry and math, then maybe he will do what Randy Moore did and go back into the classroom and teach," Cayetano said. "That would be wonderful."

Moore is a former CEO of Kaneohe Ranch Co. who recently retired to pursue teaching.

For the past three years, Blair has been using his vacations for taking night classes at Kapiolani Community College, "and it sort of blossomed, I guess, to where I decided I wanted to go full time and see if it develops into a career."

When he attended college in the '60s and during the Vietnam War, students were not inclined to major in chemistry unless they wanted to go on to work for Dow Chemical and make napalm, he said.

"But now math and science seem vastly more interesting than they did 30 years ago, and I still have a few functioning brain cells left," he said.

He has no strong expectations or preconceived notions as to what will happen later.

Research is a possibility "because it's interesting and I want to do it."

While teaching is also a possibility, Blair is not sure he has the patience for it. "It takes a certain personality, and I'm not sure I have that."

He said he will miss interacting with the people he worked with in the Judiciary, in particular, the "hardworking and dedicated" prosecutors and public defenders. If it does not work out, he said, he can always go back to practicing law.