The 25-member state Senate appeared deadlocked Monday over the confirmation of Carleton Ching to lead the state Board of Land and Natural Resources.
Some sources place the count at 12 to 12, with one senator’s stance unknown and with a few senators likely to flip-flop before this week’s expected vote.
The sense that the Democratic-dominated Senate remained divided on Ching underscores the stakes for Gov. David Ige as he tests his relationship with his former Senate colleagues for the first time in public view.
Ching underwent a day and a half of grueling testimony and questions last week by the Senate Committee on Water and Land.
Asked how Ige is working to secure Ching’s nomination — and what his relationship with the Senate will be after the full Senate votes — Ige spokeswoman Cindy McMillan on Monday said in a statement, "(The) Governor intends to meet with senators to answer their questions and provide information about why he made this nomination so they can make a decision. He knows the senators take their responsibility in this process seriously, and he will respect their decision."
The committee voted 5-2 against recommending that Ching be confirmed following hours and hundreds of pages of testimony. The vast majority argued that the Castle & Cooke executive was unqualified to manage the largest land inventory in Hawaii, among a host of responsibilities he would face as head of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
State Sen. Josh Green (D, Naalehu-Kailua-Kona) was an early opponent of Ige’s nominee and said he received more than 1,000 phone calls, texts and emails last weekend, all opposed to the governor’s choice.
"Only one individual, a conservative from Kona, asked me to support the nominee," Green said.
"I’m very fond of Gov. Ige," Green said. "But this threatens to shatter the public trust in his decision-making by putting a lobbyist developer as the head of DLNR. That is why I hope against hope that he’ll find a different position for this gentleman."
A full Senate vote on Ching had not been scheduled as of Monday, but some senators said they expect that it will happen Wednesday or Thursday.
Given the stakes, some senators asked the Honolulu Star-Advertiser to let them speak without being identified, while others declined to comment.
Political analyst and MidWeek columnist Dan Boylan said a vote likely will not be held on the Senate floor until Ige is assured that Ching will be confirmed.
"They’re counting the votes right now," Boylan said. "You bet there’s strong-arming going on. I’m not sure Ching would go forward if they weren’t pretty certain they had the votes."
But based on years watching Ige as a senator, Boylan suspects there will be no political payback for those who vote against Ching.
"I don’t think there will be damage to anybody," Boylan said.
"David appointed this guy," Boylan said. "He will not sell him out for political capital. He’ll stick with the guy and go down with the guy if need be. David’s boring. He’s got no charisma. But he does believe in heart, and he believes in people being good people. Somewhere along the line he decided that Carleton Ching is a good guy."
An environmentally friendly group, the Outdoor Circle, on Monday tried to pressure state Sen. Brian Taniguchi (D, Makiki-Tantalus-Manoa) by helping to organize a press conference on behalf of a new group called Save Manoa Valley after the Department of Land and Natural Resources decided to "significantly expand commercial activity in the conservation district at the back of Manoa Valley."
At a Manoa town hall meeting this month, the groups quoted Taniguchi as saying he was "inclined to oppose" Ching’s selection.
"Now, days before the Senate is to vote on the nomination, Sen. Taniguchi is telling residents he is undecided," the Outdoor Circle said.
Taniguchi did not respond to repeated requests for comment Monday.
"We don’t know what kind of deal the Senate is brokering on Mr. Ching’s behalf, but we do know how politics works in Hawaii," said Dale Kobayashi, 54, who grew up in a family that fought against the old Paradise Park tourist attraction in the back of Manoa Valley. "This confirmation definitely feels like business as usual."
Paradise Park Inc. wants to rebuild the shuttered tourist attraction to include manicured gardens, hula shows and luau — exactly the kind of project that Kobayashi contends Ching would approve across the islands over the objections of environmentalists and conservationists.
"His position has been very outspoken in terms of trying to increase revenue for public lands, and he doesn’t provide any safeguards for the residents," said Kobayashi, who testified against Ching’s nomination. "Should he be confirmed, we’ll see this problem arising throughout Hawaii. It’s money versus people."
Martha Townsend, executive director of the Outdoor Circle, said Ige’s appointment of Ching "does not appear to make sense if you have someone who recognizes Hawaii’s cultural and natural resources as ‘a piece of dirt’ and referring to them as ‘a brand’ rather than a fundamental quality of life. We’re definitely cautious and nervous about the story behind this nomination."
At the committee hearing, Ching several times refered to land as "dirt," which disturbed some senators.
Townsend then mocked Ige’s gubernatorial campaign promise to be transparent.
"This is transparency," Townsend said. "It makes it all the more transparent in the way private industry can influence this administration. Advocates for property development — people who view our natural resources as ‘a piece of dirt’ — will have a direct line to the governor that other private citizens will not."
