Ige Appointments Sail Through Senate Committees
Budget chief, tax director, head of human resources advance with unanimous support.
Four聽more of Gov. David Ige’s appointments sailed through Senate committees with unanimous support Wednesday.
Assuming the full Senate follows聽suit,聽Ige will be 5 for 5 in securing聽approvals for聽nominations of key people to serve in his burgeoning administration.
The latest round includes his picks for budget director, Wes Machida; deputy budget director, Roderick Becker; tax director, Maria Zielinski; and human resources director, James Nishimoto.聽Each nominee was backed by reams of glowing testimony.
Catherine Awakuni Col贸n, Ige’s appointment to head the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, cleared her Senate committee hurdle Monday.
Gov. David Ige’s appointee to be his budget chief, Wes Machida, pictured here at a legislative briefing聽last month, easily cleared his first hurdle to confirmation Wednesday along with several others.
Cory Lum/Civil Beat
On deck Friday is a Senate committee’s determination of whether to sign off on Ige’s nomination of Doug Chin to be attorney general.
A dozen more are up Tuesday for their first test before Senate committees. They include Randy Iwase, the governor’s choice to head the Public Utilities Commission, and his slate of nominees to serve on the Hawaii Community Development Authority: John Whalen,聽Tom McLaughlin, Amy Luersen, Donna Camvel, Brett Prejean, Michael Golojuch, Shirley Swinney, Dean Capelouto, Jason Okuhama, William Oh and Steven Scott.
On March 5, Ige’s appointee to be director of the Department of Human Services, Rachael Wong, is set to go before the Senate Human Services Committee.
There still hasn’t been a hearing set for the governor’s聽most controversial appointment, Carleton Ching, a lobbyist for Castle & Cooke who could become the next head of the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
