Two of Gov. Josh Green’s Cabinet nominees who failed to win Senate confirmation — and any others who also might lack Senate support — will remain in place until the May 5 end of the legislative session and possibly for the rest of 2023 and even longer.
On March 24, Green’s nominees to lead the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism — Chris Sadayasu — and the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development — Scott Glenn — failed to win Senate confirmation.
A March 30 Senate deadline then expired for Green to name replacement nominees, meaning Sadayasu and Glenn can continue running their departments, along with any future Green appointees who also may be rejected by the Senate.
There are several options for what happens next.
Once the session ends, Green could appoint Sadayasu or Glenn as interim directors, give them a full year on the job and even renominate them during the 2024 legislative session, said political analyst Neal Milner.
“I think it could happen,” Milner said. “The governor might want to see what kind of jobs these people do, and I could see circumstances where he could come back with them. He might be willing to do it.”
After he was sworn in on Dec. 5, Green had only weeks to nominate his 20 Cabinet members and their deputies.
But keeping Sadayasu and Green as interim directors would give them a full year’s worth of experience with the possibility of coming back with stronger resumes for potential confirmation — especially with some senators facing reelection in 2024.
The pressure will be on senators up for reelection to avoid voter backlash for twice turning down Green’s Cabinet picks, Milner said.
For Green, Milner said, “there’s no reason for him to stick his neck out right now. He’ll want to watch the kind of work that they do and see what happens.”
Green did not immediately respond to a request for comment about any plans he might have for Sadayasu and Glenn. He previously said that he would consider a position in his administration for Ikaika Anderson, Green’s original nominee to lead the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, who withdrew himself from consideration after failing to win recommendation by the Senate Hawaiian Affairs Committee.
Green’s second DHHL nominee, Kali Watson, was later confirmed by the full Senate.
Since the Senate deadline has passed for Green to make any new Cabinet nominations this legislative session, the state Constitution allows Green the possibility of keeping Sadayasu and Glenn in place, giving them more experience and opportunities to provide Senate testimony through two full legislative sessions.
According to the Constitution, “When the senate is not in session and a vacancy occurs in any office, appointment to which requires the confirmation of the senate, the governor may fill the office by granting a commission which shall expire, unless such appointment is confirmed, at the end of the next session of the senate.”
Leaving Sadayasu and Glenn in place “from the end of one session to the next? I think it could happen,” Milner said.
The Senate has handed Green an unusually high number of confirmation defeats — three so far — for any first-term governor since statehood. Glenn’s confirmation vote ended in a 12-12 tie, meaning he was not confirmed.
At the same time, the Senate also has confirmed eight of Green’s other nominees, and Senate committees have recommended three more for confirmation before the full Senate.
The Senate Committee on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs has scheduled a confirmation hearing for
today on Green’s nomination of Tommy Johnson as director of the state Department of Public Safety.
Colin Moore, director of the University of Hawaii’s Public Policy Center, agreed that Green might be tempted to keep Sadayasu and Glenn in place after the legislative session ends.
But Moore does not believe that Green would renominate them and directly challenge the Senate.
The result could mean
Sadayasu and Glenn would have less authority over their departments, Moore said.
“It’ll be very difficult for them to exercise much power in the agencies if the civil servants know they’re going to be gone,” Moore said. “If you don’t have the support of the Senate, they’re more likely to ignore you if they know they’re going to get a new boss. You’re a lame duck from Day One.”
Giving Sadayasu and Glenn a full year of experience on the job would unlikely be a compelling argument for senators in 2024 to approve nominees they already rejected, Moore said.
“My impression is that this is the sort of thing that would infuriate the Senate,” Moore said. “My assumption is that Green is figuring
out who might be more
acceptable.”
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