Gov.-elect Neil Abercrombie today nominated Big Island state Sen. Dwight Takamine as director of the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and Maui County Finance Director Kalbert Young as director of the state Department and Budget and Finance.

If Takamine is confirmed by the state Senate, his appointment would create a Senate vacancy that Abercrombie would fill from a list of three nominees recommended by the Democratic Party of Hawaii. The replacement would serve in the Senate until the 2012 elections.

Takamine is considered a union ally and he and his father, former International Longshore and Warehouse Union leader Yoshito Takamine, have represented the Big Island in the state House and Senate since statehood.

Abercrombie named Audrey Hidano, who has worked in the construction industry and at the DLIR, as deputy director of the department.

Young, the nominee for budget director, has been the Maui finance director since 2004. He used to work for Kapalua Land Co., the state Legislature, and Kamehameha Schools.