Lingle smells politics
in vote on judgeshipsThe Senate rejected Ted Hong
but seems poised to OK another
deemed "not qualified"
The state Senate will vote on the nomination of Deputy Maui Prosecutor Simone Polak to the District Court bench, the second time this year the body will weigh a judicial nominee ranked "not qualified" by the Hawaii State Bar Association.
CORRECTION
Saturday, March 27, 2003>> The state Senate Judiciary Committee recommended Wednesday that the full Senate approve Gov. Linda Lingle's appointment of Deputy Maui Prosecutor Simone Polak to the Maui District Court bench. In a story on Page A3 in yesterday's early edition, Polak's name was misspelled as Polack.
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The Senate on March 12 rejected nominee Ted Hong to a Circuit Court seat, with many senators citing the bar association's determination.
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If the Senate approves Polak's nomination, it will "expose" the rejection of Hong as political, Gov. Linda Lingle said yesterday.
Lingle nominated Hong, the state's chief negotiator, for the position. District judge nominees, such as Polak, are selected by the chief justice of the Supreme Court.
"If the very same people who used as a rationale the bar association opinion in voting Ted down ... now vote in favor of this person, they will be exposed in the sense that that wasn't the reason they voted against Ted," Lingle said.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted yesterday to recommend approval ofPolak's nomination to a seat on the Maui District Court. The Democrat-controlled Senate is expected to vote on the nomination Monday.
One of the senators who voted to reject Hong but is in favor of Polak is Sen. Roz Baker (D, Honokohau-Makena). Baker pointed out that the bar association gave different reasons for its "not qualified" ratings for Polak and Hong.
The association said Hong lacked judicial temperament.
"It's either something you have or not. That goes to whether you can be fair, whether you treat people with respect, whether you have all of those sort of intangible qualities," Baker said.
Baker said it was not just the bar association ratingthat convinced her to vote against Hong's nomination.
The association said Polack lacks substantive civil litigation or family court experience. Baker said by that standard, many judges who have served with distinction would not have qualified for appointment.
Retired Maui Family Court Judge Douglas McNish said he lacked family court experience when he was appointed.
McNish spoke in favor of Polak's appointment yesterday.
Polak, 43, said civil litigation follows the same rules of evidence applied in criminal proceedings. And she said she is working to expand her knowledge of family law.
"I will be able to take on this task and do well at it," she said.
The bar association ratings are based on an evaluation process that looks at a candidate's professional competence, judicial temperament and integrity. Failure to meet all three standards results in a negative recommendation.
The process implemented a year ago also has been criticized by Lingle and others because it allows bar association members to submit comments on nominees anonymously.
The Associated Press contributed to this story
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Governor nominates
2 for judgeships
Gov. Linda Lingle has appointed Alexa Fujise of the city Prosecutor's Office to the state Intermediate Court of Appeals and District Judge Bert Ayabe to the Circuit Court bench.
Fujise would become an associate judge on the appellate court, which is composed of five associate judges and a chief judge.
Fujise is director of the Research and Reference Support Division of the Prosecutor's Office. She has also served as appellate research branch chief and deputy prosecutor.
Fujise also served as an assistant disciplinary counsel for the Office of Disciplinary Counsel and as a law clerk for then-Associate Justice Herman Lum.
She received her bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Hawaii.
Ayabe fills a vacancy created with the retirement of Circuit Judge Dan Kochi on Dec. 31.
Ayabe has been a District Court judge since June. He was a partner in Hisaka Furusho Ayabe & Goto specializing in personal injury, commercial litigation, arbitration and mediation.
He had been an associate attorney with Kim Sterns Lines & Moore; Bollington Stilz & Boeser; and Kobayashi Watanabe Sugita & Kawashima.
Ayabe is president of the Hawaii State Trial Judges Association.
He is a graduate of the University of Hawaii and Hastings College of Law in San Francisco.
Both appointments are subject to confirmation by the state Senate.
