Letter: Ige should take care in nominating judges

Keith Hiraoka may be “qualified” to serve on the state Intermediate Court of Appeals (“Hiraoka qualified to serve on ICA,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Oct. 10). However, that doesn’t necessarily mean he is the most qualified or, more importantly, a wise choice.

Gov. David Ige, who has chosen to emphasize integrity and character in his public persona, demonstrates a curious blindness to appearances in this nomination of his longtime buddy.

Less charitably, perhaps arrogance born of the security of a second term accounts for the governor’s seeming indifference to the public’s expectations for a court beholden only to the law.

This episode recalls then-Gov. John Waihee’s similarly ill-advised attempt to elevate Sharon Himeno, the wife of his attorney general, to the state Supreme Court. That bit of naked cronyism proved a bridge too far even for his own party in its disregard for the presumed and hoped-for independence of the judiciary.

Waihee was forced to choose a a less controversial nominee. Ige would be well-advised to consider a similar course.

Doug Lamerson

Kailua

Click here to read more Letters to the Editor.