The state must pay about $70,000 for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s attorney fees and costs for prevailing in its lawsuit against Gov. Neil Abercrombie for the release of the names of judicial candidates, a state judge ruled Friday.
Circuit Judge Karl Sakamoto granted a request by the newspaper in November for a judgment under the state open-records law ordering Abercrombie to make public the names of finalists submitted to him by the Judicial Selection Commission.
The governor had refused to disclose the names, saying it would have a "chilling effect," discouraging potential applicants who might not want their names released.
But Sakamoto ruled that the governor did not provide evidence to support his rationale and to exempt him under the state law requiring government records to be open to the public.
Abercrombie departed from the practices of the past two governors when he declined to release the list of judicial candidates last year.
In August the Star-Advertiser filed its lawsuit under the Uniform Information Practices Act, the open-records law, which led to the judge’s November ruling.
In his three-page order, Sakamoto noted that the open-records law requires the court to award "reasonable" attorney fees and costs to the prevailing party.
State attorneys disputed the amount the newspaper was seeking, but Sakamoto said the fees and costs sought by the Star-Advertiser lawyers, including Diane Hastert and Robert Thomas, were "reasonable."
He said the case presented "novel and complex issues" and that it entailed "extensive research."
Sakamoto awarded $67,749 in fees and $1,777 in costs.
Under the state Constitution, the governor must appoint justices and judges from the lists of finalists submitted by the commission, which screens the judicial applicants.
Two days after Sakamoto’s decision in November, the commission announced that it had amended its rules and from then on would disclose the judicial names when it sends the lists to the governor.
Abercrombie later released the names on the lists for his first three judicial appointments, including Sabrina McKenna to the Hawaii Supreme Court.
