������Ƶ

Kim v. Board of Regents: If you’re looking to perk up your Tuesday afternoon, consider tuning into the Senate Higher Education Committee That’s where three gubernatorial nominees to the University of Hawaii Board of Regents will make their respective cases before Donna Mercado Kim, Michelle Kidani and other senators.

Bring your popcorn. It promises to be quite entertaining, The Sunshine Blog hears.

The confirmation hearings are chaired by Kim, a frequent critic of all things UH and notorious for her interrogations. There is also the fact that the regents themselves are heading up the search for a new university system president to replace outgoing David Lassner, so much is at stake with these appointments.

Gov. Josh Green nominated all three and they have been serving as interim regents but would fill full five-year terms through June 30, 2028, at the BOR.

is a private practice attorney and per diem District Court judge on Maui. has worked for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and Kamehameha Schools and is … well, he’s Neil Abercrombie and needs no introduction to readers of The Blog.

The talk in university and legislative circles is that Kim, Kidani and some of their Senate colleagues would like to have more say in the presidential search process.

The Blog has also learned that there are students who are unhappy with Abercrombie, specifically they say he ignores student voices when it comes to shared governance of the university. They plan to testify against his nomination.

Board of Regents v. Advisory Group: Speaking of the search for a new UH leader, earlier this month the 11-member Board of Regents postponed a vote for the .

The proposed group includes Duane Kurisu, aio chair and CEO (that’s a magazine publishing company); Noe Noe Wong-Wilson, Hawaiian Civic Club of Hilo President; Livingston “Jack” Wong, CEO of Kamehameha Schools; and Dom Bonifacio, a student government leader from Leeward Community College.

The regents are expected to take things up again at a special meeting in the “near future” with BOR Chair Alapaki Nahale-a saying in a press release, “substantive issues need to be resolved for the integrity of the process.”

UH hopes to have a new president on board before the fall semester begins. David Lassner is set to retire at the end of the year.

Smith and Wesson v. Hawaii AG: The state of Hawaii routinely pays for legal claims made against the state, and it can add up to a lot of taxpayer money for court judgments and settlements. The of the latest claims bill is still under consideration by the Legislature, so final figures could change. But for now the state is on the hook for at least $13.4 million for all cases.

That incudes a $70,400 settlement in Smith and Wesson v. Hawaii State Department of the Attorney General. The Tennessee firearms manufacturer sued Hawaii alleging a violation of the Uniform Information Practices Act, Hawaii’s version of the federal Freedom of Information Act.

Smith and Wesson submitted nine requests to the AG for records regarding “firearms litigation, firearms marketing practices, firearm safety, firearm violence, firearm violence prevention, gun law reform, or gun control.”

The AG reviewed the requests and gave Smith and Wesson an estimate of the amount of time it would need to “review, redact, and segregate” the relevant documents as well as an estimate of the total fees and costs. It also requested a 50% down payment before it began fulfilling the request.

That’s what prompted the lawsuit, with Smith and Wesson arguing that the state’s estimate was “designed to prohibit” the plaintiff access to the records. The court decided in favor of the plaintiff.

The Blog can totally relate.

Bob v. Mazie: Republican Bob McDermott, a former member of the Hawaii House of Representatives, lost to Democratic U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz by more than 40 percentage points in 2022.

Apparently undeterred, McDermott has pulled campaign papers to run against Schatz’s colleague, Mazie Hirono, in November.

McDermott in the U.S. Marine Corps and has worked as a real estate agent.

Never shy about expressing his views, he said in a Civil Beat Candidate Q&A in 2022, “I was the first elected official to call for closure and decommissioning of Red Hill. I led the way, nice for the congressional delegation to follow, albeit belatedly.”