Lingle picks adviser’s wife
for Stadium Authority

Marcia Klompus, former executive director of the Aloha Bowl, who also guided the Hula Bowl and the Aloha State Games, was nominated to the Hawaii Stadium Authority by Gov. Linda Lingle.

Marcia Klompus: Lingle's scheduler was director of the Aloha Bowl

Klompus now serves as Lingle's appointment scheduler and is married to Lenny Klompus, Lingle's senior communications adviser.

Her nomination and those of two others will be examined by state Sen. Willie Espero's Business and Economic Development Committee before the entire Senate votes on the nomination.

Espero said yesterday he thought Klompus "would have something to contribute" because of her experience as a major user of the 50,000-seat stadium.

Klompus said she and her husband came to Hawaii in 1982 to help the former stadium manager, Mackay Yanagisawa, who founded the Hula Bowl.

The stadium, Klompus said, should be used for the University of Hawaii.

"Mackay was the reason why Lenny and I came here, and he always made it abundantly clear that the stadium was built for the university," Klompus said.

"If there wasn't a university program with football, why have a stadium? Therefore, in our mind it has always been there for the use and comfort of the university and its fans," Klompus said.

But she thinks the facility can be made "more user-friendly."

"I'd like to see people get more bang for their buck," Klompus said.

Espero said he did not think Klompus' close working relationship with Lingle would be a problem for her confirmation, saying, "Hawaii is a small place, and you are bound to know lots of people."

The two others nominated to the nine-member stadium authority are Kathleen Ahina, a legal secretary and private secretary in the state Hawaiian Home Lands Department, Hawaii Republican Party volunteer and co-chairwoman of last year's GOP platform committee; and Nelson Oyadomari, regional manager of Primary Residential Mortgage Inc.