Monday is the 42nd day of the 60-day session.

WHITE NOMINATION IN TROUBLE

Iwalani White, Gov. Linda Lingle's nominee for director of the state Department of Public Safety, suffered a setback on Thursday when the state Senate Public Safety Committee recommended against her confirmation.

The 3-1 committee vote came after about 10 hours of testimony spread over two public hearings. White was criticized by some within the department who, testifying under subpoena, said she lacks leadership and management skills and created a climate of fear at the department in her time as interim director.

Her supporters said she is fair and tough and has the ability to steer the troubled department back on track. The department has gone through several directors in the past few years and has been under federal investigation over its treatment of prisoners.

State Sen. Will Espero, D-20th ('Ewa Beach, Waipahu), the committee's chairman, said White has considerable qualifications and experience but is not the right person for the job. Espero, and several other senators, predicted White will not be confirmed when the full Senate votes on her nomination tomorrow.

Dozens of department workers signed a petition on White's behalf and delivered it to senators Friday afternoon. Lingle also praised White, a former Honolulu deputy prosecutor and Family Court judge, for her toughness and ability.

If White is not confirmed, she would be the first Lingle cabinet nominee rejected by the Senate since the governor took office.

SUPERFERRY EIS BILL DIES

A Senate bill that would have required the state to conduct an environmental impact statement on the effect of Hawai'i Superferry on state harbors has died in the state House.

State Rep. Joseph Souki, D-8th (Wailuku, Waihe'e, Waiehu), the chairman of the House Transportation Committee, announced in a commentary to The Advertiser that he will not hear the bill. "It is not fair to require an EIS now, at the eleventh hour, when the (Department of Transportation) ... told the Superferry from the start that one was not required," he wrote.

Environmentalists, and Neighbor Island state senators behind the bill, were disappointed. But many observers at the state Capitol had doubted the bill would succeed. The state had already approved $40 million in harbor improvements to help the Superferry, which is scheduled to launch service connecting O'ahu, Maui and Kaua'i in July and the Big Island in 2009.

Superferry developers hired some of the state's top lobbyists and public-relations executives to help kill the bill. The campaign included e-mail blasts, radio ads and a poll that found broad public support for the planned July launch.

STALEMATE OVER UH REGENTS

Gov. Linda Lingle withdrew five appointments to the University of Hawai'i Board of Regents on Thursday after being told by Senate Democrats they would not be confirmed.

The five — Byron Bender, Michael Dahilig, Marlene Hapai, Kitty Lagareta and Jane Tatibouet — already serve as regents but their terms expire this summer.

Voters passed a constitutional amendment last November that approved a new advisory council to recommend regent nominees to the governor. The Senate passed a bill on Friday creating the council, but expects a veto from Lingle.

Senate president Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Nanakuli, Makaha), met with Lingle on Tuesday about the situation. Hanabusa said the Senate would not confirm the governor's nominees, which could complicate whether they could continue to serve on the board in an interim capacity while lawmakers and the governor hash out their differences.

The Senate bill would allow the regents whose terms expire this summer to stay on the board until June 2008 or until they — or their successors — are recommended by the advisory council and nominated by Lingle.

Hanabusa said she wanted to make sure the board could function with a quorum until the advisory council is in place.

Senate Democrats have been anticipating a standoff with Lingle. Hanabusa has been trading letters with the state attorney general's office on the legal questions since January.

Attorney General Mark Bennett believes the existing process of regent nominations and Senate confirmations is operative until the bill creating the new advisory council is passed into law.

But Bennett has also told Hanabusa there is a "colorable argument" that the Senate lacks the constitutional authority to confirm regents who have not been appointed from a pool of candidates recommended by the council.

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