Panel opens
state elections job

The committee also votes to adopt
rules before evaluating job performance

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By Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.com

The state Elections Appointment and Review Panel is starting a search to see if Dwayne Yoshina, state chief elections officer, is the best person for the job.

The five-member panel voted 3-2 at a meeting yesterday to open up the position for other people to apply. The panel also decided that it must adopt rules before it can evaluate Yoshina's performance.

That job performance review was supposed to be turned in before the Legislature convened last month, but the committee was not able to agree on job performance criteria.

The commission was told yesterday by Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona that it could not perform a job evaluation without first adopting rules to guide the panel and open up the selection process by advertising the job.

Panel Chairman Ray Pua acknowledged that the committee has been trying to adopt rules since 1999, but because the Legislature has not funded the panel, it has not been able to hold public hearings across the state.

"We went to the Legislature for the last three years, and we weren't given any money," Pua said.

Meanwhile, Yoshina will continue as chief election officer.

Pua praised Yoshina yesterday, saying he thinks he "has done a good job," but other panel members have concerns.

"I would like to see a performance review of Mr. Yoshina," Kitty Lagareta, one of the panel members said. "I have seen the good side of what Mr. Yoshina does, but I have also seen a lot of things that need improving."

Warner "Kimo" Sutton, another panel member, said he thought Yoshina should be replaced because he was not able to communicate with the public.

According to a job description, the chief election officer, who is paid $77,966, should have both technical knowledge of the election process and have strong communications and public relations skills.

Yoshina, who has worked as an elections official since 1981, when the elections were run by the lieutenant governor, acknowledged that he has had a difficult time with the public relations portion of the job.

"Most of my experience in public service has been as a bureaucrat, so to work in the public spotlight with the press has been difficult," Yoshina said.

"Doing the technical stuff is easy," Yoshina added, saying he intended to reapply for his job.

In 1998, Yoshina junked the old punch-card balloting system for a new computer-scanning system that malfunctioned in seven precincts.

The problems led to a state Senate investigation and a recount of the entire general election.

When Yoshina was reappointed to the position by the panel in 1999, Sen. Colleen Hanabusa (D, Waianae) spoke against him, saying he had arranged a nonbid contract for the computerized election system, failed to adopt rules for review of election materials and had poor public relations skills.

The job performance requirements also call for someone to "assume a strong leadership role in the development of aggressive statewide voter awareness and registration program and the implementation of effective and efficient elections systems."

The requirements also say the chief election officer should also be able to "conduct state public voter education -- awareness of elections activities and encourage voter registration."

The administration of the elections was taken away from the lieutenant governor in 1996.