The state Senate missed a chance to reset its increasingly toxic culture when it voted down Gov. Josh Green’s nomination of Alapaki Nahale-a to the University of Hawaii Board of Regents, where he served as interim chair.
The Senate rejected Nahale-a 13-12 after Sen. Donna Mercado Kim’s Higher Education Committee recommended against his confirmation 5-0, following one of Kim’s typically venomous hearings.
Two UH-bashing cohorts who weren’t voting committee members, Sens. Donovan Dela Cruz and Lynn DeCoite, showed up to help pillory Nahale-a with loaded questions.
Other than those seven, the 18 senators who weren’t at the hearing, but heard outrage from the university and broader communities where Nahale-a had wide support, voted 12-6 to override Kim’s recommendation.
It was a sign they’re tired of colleagues who act like imperious lords rather than public servants, but unfortunately a vote short of an outright rebuke of the high-handed leadership presided over by Senate President Ron Kouchi, who brags about bullying smaller kids for their lunch money in high school.
It was disappointing to watch self-styled reform senators like Stanley Chang and Chris Lee vote with the Bully Caucus, failing to see there were more important values at stake than debatable concerns about Nahale-a.
One is changing the poisonous dynamic of the Senate. A top Kim gripe was Nahale-a’s belief in working collaboratively with UH President David Lassner, instead of following the Senate’s model of mugging him at every opportunity.
She accused Nahale-a of not advocating for students, while backing former Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s nomination despite student complaints he treats them rudely.
The greater concern is the Senate’s refusal to respect the UH autonomy provided by the Hawaii Constitution, which gives the UH regents and president “exclusive jurisdiction over the internal structure, management, and operation of the university.”
Kim practices micro-managerial oversight of the university, which has seen its budget bleed when she doesn’t get her way. She’s called for the resignations of three of the last four UH presidents who got on her bad side — most recently last year when she joined Dela Cruz and Sen. Michelle Kidani in demanding Lassner’s head.
Lassner subsequently announced he would retire at the end of 2024, but there were reports senators wanted regents to force him out sooner and inappropriately give them a say in choosing his replacement.
When regents stood by Lassner, it became clear the senators would retaliate by rejecting one of Green’s latest three regent choices.
Of the other nominees, Lauren Akitake, a per diem District Court judge, was unassailable. Abercrombie had the stature of a former governor — and was willing to kiss the ring.
So Nahale-a, a classy and civic-minded guy with deep roots in the Hawaiian community and a record of conducting the public’s business with aloha, got the knife.
This malicious disruption weakens UH and exposes a Senate overdue for a culture makeover — if not a complete change of leadership. It just takes 13 senators with the backbone to insist on putting the public good ahead of personal pique and power.
Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.
