New isle water official
faces full Senate vote

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By Crystal Kua
ckua@starbulletin.com

A Senate committee has approved the nomination of Alexander & Baldwin Vice President Meredith Ching to the state Water Commission.

The Senate Water, Land, Energy and Environment Committee voted 6-1 to send Ching's name to the Senate floor for confirmation.

But concerns raised by groups who objected to Ching's nomination prompted the committee to draft a letter to the governor.

Critics of Ching's nomination say the makeup of the Commission on Water Resource Management would be unbalanced and skewed toward big business and larger landowners.

"I am looking for a venue to correct some of the obvious flaws in nominating people to the Water Commission," Sen. Jonathan Chun (D, Kauai) said.

But Chun voted to confirm Ching, saying she has the qualities for the job.

Sen. Bob Nakata (D, Kahaluu), who sat on the Water Commission until 1995, voted against confirming Ching.

He said her appointment would make two representatives of corporate interests on the commission, throwing the balance "totally out of whack."

Commissioner Brian Nishida is a vice president and general manager of Del Monte.

"There is no one that the environmentalists feel is a voice for them," Nakata said.

The committee heard testimony on Monday praising Ching, who oversees A&B government and community relations, for her expertise in engineering and water resource management and her work with conservation groups.

But Ching was criticized by others, some of whom are embroiled in a Water Commission dispute with A&B on stream diversion issues in East Maui, because of a potential conflict of interest.

Ching said she would recuse herself from decisions directly related to A&B.

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