Getting who you want on the University of Hawaii Board of Regents is getting trickier by the day.

As it stands right now, four new regents, named by former Gov. Neil Abercrombie, are putting in the hours working and voting, but in reality they are in a very insecure limbo.

Back in October, Abercrombie named Simeon Acoba, Dr. Dileep Bal, Peter Hoffmann and Helen Nielsen to the board to fill vacancies.

Acoba is a distinguished former state district, circuit, intermediate and Supreme Court judge.

Bal is a past president of the American Cancer Society, holds degrees from Columbia and Harvard and is considered, according to Abercrombie’s news release, to be the "founder of California’s cancer, tobacco and obesity control efforts."

Hoffmann is a former Hawaii County Councilman and has an extensive military background as an Army colonel in the intelligence corps.

Finally, Nielsen is the founder of the Maui Coastal Lands Trust, and is owner and manager of commercial properties on Maui and the Big Island.

So all four are not whims.

Because of a state Constitutional provision regarding interim appointments, Ige must either nominate them as his picks as regents, or they will be out as regents on May 7 when the current legislative session is set to adjourn.

The catch is that while Abercrombie named the four and dozens more to other boards and commissions, he said they were just "interim appointments." And he never sent their names to the Senate for confirmation.

At a Thursday news conference, Ige was asked about that.

"We are working with the attorney general’s office to identify what is the process on all the interim appointments," Ige said.

Asked if the interim appointees were just in limbo, Ige said "Yes."

Part of the trick is that the Abercrombie UH regents came from a list sent to him from a screening committee prescribed by state law.

The governor cannot just pick someone to be a regent; the names come from a special appointed panel.

So now there is a question: If Ige wants to name someone else instead of one of the four, does he go back to the remaining names suggested by the panel, or does he ask for an entire new set of names?

"We have asked what authority and obligation I would have on the interim appointments," Ige said.

State Sen. Les Ihara, a Honolulu Democrat, also was curious and asked the AG for the legal thinking.

Deputy AG Charleen Aina wrote back, saying Ige must used the list compiled by the Regents Candidate Advisory Committee.

The clock is ticking in all this because if Ige waits until the end of the session to send in his nominees, then the ones who were named as interim appointees cannot be included. According to the AG, anyone appointed as a regent but not confirmed by the Senate "shall not be eligible for another interim appointment to such office as the appointment failed to be confirmed."

So if not nominated, you are not confirmed and you are pau.

So far Ige is not promising anything.

"We are working to get answers to those questions and, in addition, we are viewing all the interim appointments and deciding whether I want to embrace those appointments or whether we would be looking for new nominees," Ige said.

All that must have the four appointed, but not nominated, regents thinking twice about the joys of "community service."

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.