Senate panel OKs Bissen
for judgeship

Three committee members vote
yes for Lingle’s nominee but
"with reservations"

Former Maui prosecutor Richard Bissen’s confirmation as a state judge moved forward today as the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended he be confirmed.

The action, however, came with three of the six committee members saying they were voting yes “with reservations.”

“I have some major concerns that I am unable to reconcile. The concerns go to the issue of character and integrity,” said Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, judiciary committee chairwoman.

Others voting for Bissen with reservations included Sens. Clayton Hee and Les Ihara.

Other Democratic and Republican Senate leaders said yesterday that Bissen, who served as prosecutor while Gov. Linda Lingle was Maui mayor, was likely to win confirmation when the issue goes for a vote before the full 25-member Senate on Tuesday.

Lingle nominated Bissen to the Maui Circuit Court. Yesterday, he completed the second and final day of hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Bissen has been criticized by Hanabusa because he did not tell senators about an unfavorable court ruling that criticized his legal performance. Bissen failed to tell senators that he had a conviction returned by the state appellate court that noted his questioning and summation to the jury showed “prosecutorial misconduct.”

“The issue is failure to disclosure; that is the question,” Hanabusa said.

“Had it been disclosed, we wouldn’t be having this discussion,” Hanabusa said during yesterday’s hearing.

Bissen told lawmakers that Hawaii Supreme Court’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel dismissed the misconduct complaint, although the office had cautioned him about his conduct.

“I was never found guilty of misconduct,” Bissen testified. Bissen also noted that he had told both the Judicial Selection Commission and the Hawaii Bar Association about the adverse ruling.

Perhaps some of the strongest support for Bissen came from former state Judge Marie Milks, who said she reviewed the appellate court case that criticized Bissen. “There is nothing in the appellate decision that causes me to conclude that Mr. Bissen conducted himself in an unethical manner or to suggest that he lacks the competence and integrity to serve as a judge,” Milks said in written testimony.

Former Appellate Court Judge Walter Heen wrote praising Bissen, saying his conduct was not something to hurt his chances of being a judge. Heen, former chairman of the state Democratic Party, said Bissen’s qualifications “are undisputed.”

Also speaking in Bissen’s favor was Boyd Mossman, now an Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee, who was the state judge who heard the case in which Bissen was accused of acting improperly. “His roots are Hawaiian through and through, and he can understand the needs and conditions of the forlorn as well as those who would appear forgone,” Mossman said.

Also supporting Bissen was Earl Anzai, former state attorney general under former Gov. Ben Cayetano. “He is strong but fair. Compassionate but not easily fooled,” Anzai said.

Last year, Hanabusa had recommended that former Lingle cabinet member Ted Hong be confirmed to a Hilo court seat, but Hong was rejected by the Senate.

Hong and Lingle said the vote was political, with Democrats voting down a GOP nominee.

But with Bissen, who has worked for both Republicans and Democrats on Maui, there is strong support from the three Maui senators, who are all Democratic.