Candidates for Vacant UH Board of Regents Seats Announced
Four former regents vacated the seats in response to a new law requiring members on the university’s governing board to submit public financial disclosure statements.
The council in charge of nominating candidates for the University of Hawaii’s Board of Regents today announced the finalists for the four seats that聽were vacated聽because of a requiring members to submit public financial disclosure statements.
Specifically, the law requires that members of the Board of Regents and another 14 boards and commissions publicize their financial interests. Earlier this summer, the measure prompted the resignations of at least 16 members, including four regents: Carl Carlson (Hawaii County), John Dean (Honolulu), Saedene Ota (Maui) and Tom Shigemoto (Kauai).
The board is made up of 15 seats total.
PF Bentley/Civil Beat
Now, the regents’ Candidate Advisory Council has presented a list of candidates to Gov. Neil Abercrombie to fill the four seats on an interim basis. The duration of the appointments is subject to confirmation by the state Senate.
Here are the candidates:
City and County of Honolulu (term expires in June 2017)
- Simeon Acoba, Jr.
- Peter Adler
- Maralyn Kurshals
- Michael McEnerney
- Russel Nagata
Hawaii County (term expires in June 2016)
- Wayne Higaki
- Peter Hoffmann
- Roy Vitousek III
Kauai County (term expires in June 2017)
- Dileep Bal
- David Iha
- Klaus Keil
Maui County (term expires in June 2015)
- Sherrilee Dodson
- Anders Lyons
- Helen Nielsen
The advisory council began recruiting nominees in July following the resignations. The candidates were personally recruited by council members or recommended by government and community leaders.
The council is聽also seeking candidates for five-year聽appointments to聽the Honolulu and Maui County seats.
The council was created in 2006, when voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing the governor to select regents from a pool of candidates聽proposed by the council.
