Lingle follows political
trend in naming UH regents
Incoming University of Hawaii regent Kitty Lagareta just finished reading the 1996 bestseller "Who Runs the University: The Politics of Higher Education in Hawaii" for a second time and agrees with the book's conclusion: The UH "is all about politics."
It is more than just coincidence that Lagareta, Hawaii Republican Party member and one of the architects of Gov. Linda Lingle's campaign, is now in a position to be directing the university as one of 12 regents.
This year, Lagareta, businessman Alvin Tanaka, law student Trent Kakuda and retired professor Byron Bender were appointed to the board, while two of Lingle's appointments were rejected by the state Senate over concern, among other reasons, that they were too political.
Tanaka was a major GOP and Lingle supporter. Bender is a former president of the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly, which endorsed Lingle. Tanaka, a law student, is a part-time worker in Senate President Robert Bunda's office. Lingle says Bunda asked that Kakuda be appointed and adds that he is also "highly qualified."
After the rejections of attorney Shelton Jim On, a longtime GOP worker, and Edward Sultan, a businessman and husband of Lingle's campaign finance chairwoman, Lingle named two more Republicans as interim regents.
Lingle picked Jane Tatibouet, a former Hawaii GOP chairwoman, Republican state representative and Cornell University trustee; and Ted Hong, an attorney who now serves as Lingle's director of the Office of Collective Bargaining. Hawaii's governors have usually relied on political friends on the Board of Regents.
One former regent, who asked to remain anonymous, said it is a "natural choice."
"They will communicate frequently with the governor, and even though the governor is supposed to keep his or her hands off the board, in actuality the governor has a great stake in making sure the university runs smoothly," the ex-regent said.
Bunda, who said the two appointees were rejected because they were not qualified, added that "it appears that the governor called on all Republican and Republican supporters for nominees and not Democrats."
Lingle says she is glad she is able to "bring in a lot of people to serve on boards and commissions who should have been serving a long time ago but didn't have the opportunity."
State law requires that the board have no more than six members of one political party.
The board terms are also staggered, but because of a series of unexpected resignations, Lingle was presented with naming half of the board this year.
Lagareta notes that the difference with Lingle's picks is not so much that they are Republicans, but that they are not Democrats or closely aligned with Democrats in power.
"It has been just one party for so long, it is hard to talk about politics in terms of Republicans and Democrats," Lagareta said.
Outgoing board Chairman Bert Kobayashi was a political supporter and friend of former Gov. Ben Cayetano. Both Kobayashi and regent Everett Dowling have been business partners.
Observers say that regent appointments are likely to reflect the politics of the times.
Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center of Politics, said political appointments are often the norm.
"I have studied many elections where the voters seemed to be saying, 'Throw the rascals out and our new rascals in,' " Sabato said. "Change in itself is good at regular intervals, but people should be under no illusions that political human nature will be suspended."
University of Hawaii