UH Regents Interim Chair Vows To Fight For His Job
In spite of a Senate panel’s rejection, Alapaki Nahale-a wants to push ahead with his nomination “for our university and our state.”
Two days after a humiliating 5-0 vote against his renomination to the University of Hawaii Board of Regents, Alapaki Nahale-a said he is taking his case to all 25 senators.
“I’m hopeful that I have enough senators that believe in my approach and what I have accomplished in my first five years as a regent,” he said Thursday, adding that he has already reached out to members. “I intend to take my case to each one personally, and to answer any questions or concerns they have.”
The Senate Higher Education Committee, led by Donna Mercado Kim, had a load of criticism of Nahale-a on Tuesday. But members centered on their contention that he was not exercising full authority over UH President David Lassner and his administration.
Most of their concerns were about what they see as a failure to closely inspect the university’s budget. Kim and several others senators have for years expressed a wide range of complaints about UH, most recently about the poor conditions of some student dorms.
Nahale-a said he was genuinely surprised by the line of questioning, which included a surprise visit from two senators who do not actually sit on the committee, Donovan Dela Cruz and Lynn DeCoite. Instead of allowing him to talk about what he feels is going well with UH, the senators instead wanted to talk about what is going wrong.
“I absolutely understand that the Senate’s role to confirm nominees is for a purpose, and nobody should get a free pass,” he said. “And I’m comfortable being held accountable and being asked questions. But I also understand that these are positions that people volunteer to do. They make a lot of sacrifices to do them. I have certainly made a lot of sacrifices, and I didn’t feel like I really got a chance to talk about what I have accomplished and why I’m proud of the university.”
He added, “I would love a chance to continue to fight for our university and our state.”
Nahale-a was first nominated to serve on the regents board in 2019 by Gov. David Ige. Kim and two other Higher Education members who are still on the committee today, Michelle Kidani and Kurt Fevella, voted yes at that time to move his nomination to the full Senate. Nahale-a by all 25 senators.
In July 2023, Nahale-a was named interim chair by the board. His nomination by Gov. Josh Green would have him serve until June 30, 2028.
Nahale-a said he has not directly spoken with the governor — who is currently traveling — since the panel’s rejection.
“I did check in with the governor’s office and his representative to just make sure that he would stand by me, given the outcome of the committee meeting,” Nahale-a said. “These positions, you serve at the pleasure of the governor. And so I appreciated him choosing to stand by me.”
The governor’s office said in a statement that Green nominated Nahale-a because of his service, experience and commitment to higher education.
“While we are disappointed with the committee vote, we understand Alapaki will be talking with other senators to see if he can persuade them to support him,” the statement said. “The governor will continue conversations with Alapaki on next steps.”
‘Tone And Tenor’
A floor vote in the Senate on the nominations of Nahale-a and two other regents, Neil Abercrombie and Lauren Akitake, has not yet been scheduled. Abercrombie and Akitake both received committee approval.
Nahale-a said he was wounded by his treatment in the Higher Education Committee. He said he felt he was laughed at in particular by Kim.
“I felt like I was trying to explain my approach to leadership, which comes from my family and my community of Hilo, that this is the way we behave, this is the way we lead,” he said. “I felt like I was left out. And that’s hurtful because it’s not just the judgment of me. It’s a judgment of the people that raised me. And I believe that’s a lot of why we’re struggling as a community today, is that we’ve lost those core values and principles.”
Nahale-a’s leadership style, he explained, is to finds ways to collaborate. He said it’s not a soft approach at all, which is the way the senators made him feel.
“It’s a harder, more rigorous way to lead, because it requires you to bring people together to work over extended periods, not just to be compliant, but to be committed to purpose and cause.”
But Nahale-a said he is bolstered by supporters who watched the hearing and urged him to stay in the fight.
“People were checking on my welfare — like, ‘Are you OK?’ And it always feels good to know that you have people in your corner that care about how you are,” he said. “But what I also heard is they weren’t OK, that they were not OK with the tone and tenor of the hearing and the way that our university was being framed.”
Messages to Kim were not returned Thursday afternoon.
At least 13 senators are needed to confirm Nahale-a. Based on Tuesday’s committee vote, seven are already lined up against him.
It’s rare for the Senate to overrule the recommendation of a confirmation committee, but it does sometimes happen.
In 2019, Ige’s nomination of Mike McCartney — who at the time was Ige’s chief of staff — to lead the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism failed in committee by a vote of two in favor, two opposed and one excused.
But McCartney later managed on the Senate floor and was confirmed.
Carleton Ching, an Ige nominee to lead the Department of Land and Natural Resources in 2015, was voted down 5-2 in a committee hearing. Ige pulled the nomination before it went to the floor after it was clear that Ching did not have the votes.
