Gov. Linda Lingle's appointments to the University of Hawaii Board of Regents and other state boards yesterday included key members of her election-campaign team. Governor’s nominees
are familiar GOP facesBy Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.com
For the Board of Regents, the governor nominated two campaign supporters, Kitty Lagareta and Shelton Jim On.
Rae McCorkle, Lingle's campaign-finance director, was named to the state Land Use Commission.
The nominees for the East-West Center Board of Governors are Eddie Flores, who headed the Filipinos for Lingle coalition; Miriam Hellreich, the Hawaii GOP national committee woman, and Roland Lagareta, also a strong Lingle supporter and husband of Kitty Lagareta.
Dr. Philip Hellreich, the former president of the Hawaii Medical Association and husband of Miriam Hellreich, was named to the Judicial Selection Commission.
Also named to the UH board are Byron Bender, Edward Sultan, Alvin Tanaka and student member Trent Kakuda.
The appointments give the Lingle administration a majority on the 11-person board that is responsible for setting university policy. The board members vote among themselves to select the chairman and vice chairman for the regents.
Kitty Lagareta worked with Lingle's 1998 campaign for governor and was an unofficial advisor to the 2002 campaign. She is the chairman and chief executive officer of Communications Pacific.
Jim On, who grew up in plantation housing on Maui, is an attorney and CPA. He was Oahu finance chairman for the Lingle campaign.
Bender is a former University of Hawaii Professional Assembly president. The union twice endorsed Lingle for governor and Lingle had promised that the university professors would have a member on the board of regents.
Sultan is president and CEO of Edward Sultan Co., a jewelry manufacturer in Hawaii. Sultan, who is married to McCorkle, is a GOP volunteer.
Tanaka is president and manager of Pacific Transfer, a major trucking and moving firm. Pacific Transfer was a major contributor to the Lingle campaign.
Kakuda is the student member of the board. He is a UH law school student and is a legislative aide to Senate President Robert Bunda.
Paul Costello, UH vice president for university relations, said UH President Evan Dobelle was not familiar with the new regent nominees, but that "he is excited to be working with them."
Dobelle and Lingle got off to a rocky start after the UH president endorsed her gubernatorial opponent, former Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono.
Sen. Norman Sakamoto, chairman of the education committee that will review the regent nominees, said he also was not familiar with the appointees. "I will be interested in learning how they plan to use and work with the talent we have at the University of Hawaii," Sakamoto said.
Named to the Hawaii Tourism Authority Board of Directors was Kiyoko Kimura, the president and general manager of Diamond Resort Hawaii.
Other nominees include: Sidney Quintal, Aloha Tower Development Corp.; Colin Kaalele, Mahina Martin and Trish Morikawa, Hawaiian Homes Commission; Carl Simons, Natural Energy Laboratory Authority; Carl Bonham, Pearl Imada Iboshi and Jack Suyderhoud, Council of Revenues.
Office of the Governor