Abercrombie right at home with his scepter and throne

The big concern about Gov. Neil Abercrombie isn’t that he makes mistakes — anybody new to a job does — but that he doesn’t learn from them.

The flap over his secret emergency declaration suspending some two dozen environmental and land use laws for military ordnance removal seems a repeat of the pointless controversy he ignited early in his administration by shrouding his judicial appointments in secrecy.

With the judges, Abercrombie abruptly ended his predecessor’s practice of naming the candidates given him by the Judicial Selection Commission and allowing public comment before choosing, speciously claiming it would result in better judges.

It hid the politics in the governor’s picks and left the public with no voice in the vetting or chance to judge the quality or diversity of candidates put forth by the selection panel.

Especially troubling was that the fiat was issued without notice or opportunity for advocates of government transparency to argue their case.

Abercrombie expressed contempt for the value of public input, sniffing, “The public doesn’t pick the judge — I do.”

When critics complained to the Office of Information Practices and got a favorable ruling, Abercrombie refused to abide by it. He replaced the acting director of the agency, and his appointee punted to the courts, resulting in a lawsuit by the Star-Advertiser to force a resolution.

The secret emergency proclamation on ordnance removal reflects more of the “I’m governor and you’re not” attitude and the same penchant for high-handedness and secrecy.

There was a legitimate need to speed up the process for removing unexploded ordnance that threatens public safety, and the Lingle administration left behind a plan to do so without overriding any laws.

Abercrombie inflated it into a full-blown emergency declaration, suspending for five years laws on environmental protection, shoreline access, historic preservation, air and water pollution and a host of other sensitive concerns.

As with the judges, there was no notice or consultation with the public, the Legislature or environmental and cultural advocates. The supposed emergency wasn’t announced until more than two months after it was declared in June, and even then the state didn’t publicize it.

And again, the administration seems to be digging in and refusing to have the discussion with affected parties that it should have had in the first place, possibly setting up another legal fight.

“Using that rationale and logic is basically saying the executive has all-encompassing power,” said Robert Harris, director of the Sierra Club Hawaii chapter, one of several groups calling for repeal of the emergency declaration.

After lighting the fuse, Abercrombie took off on a 10-day Paris vacation with his wife to celebrate their wedding anniversary, leaving the issue to fester.

Let them eat his jet fumes.

Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com or blog.volcanicash.net.