Category Archives: Legislature

Ching confirmation could create precedent for continued transparency

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With the confirmation hearing for controversial DLNR nominee Carleton Ching due to get underway shortly, I’ll just point over to my column today over at Civil Beat (“Hawaii Monitor: Unexpected Flood of Info Before the Ching Hearing“).

I’ve tried to make the point that Senator Laura Thielen’s release of substantial amounts of information about the nominee is a very significant challenge to “the way these things have always been done.”

The Senate has traditionally considered anything except hearing testimony to be “confidential,” including such things as a nominee’s resume, educational background, and employment or professional history. Why such things should be confidential in the case of a candidate seeking a top state post makes no sense, but that’s the way the game has traditionally been played. It has been left up to the candidate to decide whether to include such details in their own testimony.

And even written testimony, submitted in advance, has normally been posted at the same time as the confirmation hearing, or after the hearing is over. While that’s fine for establishing a historical record, it doesn’t do much to inform the public in a timely fashion.

Senator Thielen has bucked that tradition by posting information beginning days before today’s hearing, including Ching’s resume and his written responses to questions she posed earlier, along with written testimony submitted by hundreds of individuals and organizations.

I don’t know much about the internal political dynamics of the Senate, and how pushing the envelope towards increased transparency in this way is being viewed by the chairs of other committees, and whether Thielen has or will get push-back from other senators.

It seems to me, though, that the early availability of background information about nominees is really essential to opening the confirmation process up to more than a small group of downtown insiders. Since the public is encouraged to weigh in on these nominations, the Senate really has a responsibility to provide the information necessary for the public to make informed judgements.

My own view is that it will be difficult to stuff the transparency genie back into the bottle. By showing how easily information can be provided in advance of a confirmation hearing, Senator Thielen has broken through one of those self-inflicted limitations that we no unnoticed until some trigger–in this case a controversial appointment–comes along and provides a special motive to initiate a change.

In the long run, I think this will set a new standard that other senators will be expected to meet. If they don’t, their constituents–and the general public–will have a clear basis for asking, “why not?”

That’s my reason for thinking that, in the long run, the change in the Senate’s process that Sen. Thielen has made will end up being more significant that whether or not Carleton Ching is eventually confirmed.

More info released in advance of Carleton Ching confirmation hearing

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The amount of publicly available information being released in advance of Wednesday’s confirmation hearing for Carleton Ching has been growing rapidly.

Checking the status page for Governor’s Message 514 shows five batches of individual testimony, one batch of organization testimony, and the nominee’s own testimony, basically a rewrite of the resume posted earlier.

For those of you who don’t follow blog comments, here’s one from activist Bart Dame which includes a link to the video of a recent appearance by Ching at a small community gathering.

Those wanting to hear Carleton in his own words, can watch this video of his “talk story session” held a couple of weeks ago by the Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party.

Listen for his non-responsive answers, as well as how little of substance he actually says.

As Henry Curtis has pointed out, despite Ching vaunted “private sector experience,” had this been a job interview for a major corporation, given his inability to describe the mission or operations of the organization he wants to lead, he would not get the job.

Thanks for sharing that link, Bart.

Carleton Ching’s written responses to Senate questionnaire

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Senator Laura Thielen has started posting background information on DLNR nominee Carleton Ching in advance of Wednesday’s hearing, as she committed to several days ago.

You can find the materials by going to the status page for GM 514, and checking the links on the right under the “Testimony” heading.

The first two items posted as of this morning begin with a notice that they are not testimony, but information provided to the Senate in response to questions.

One is the nominee’s resume, and the second consists of a 10-page response to questions posed by Sen. Thielen.

Ching lists what he considers relevant in land management and conservation on pages 4-5 of his responses to the Senate questionnaire. I imagine there will be questions at the confirmation hearing trying to pin down exactly what role the nominee actually played in the programs cited.

Thielen and members of her committee are also likely to hear from people who sat through Q&A sessions with Ching, and reported that the nominee did not impress with his knowledge of or experience with the issues faced by DLNR. Reconciling their reports with the details in these written responses will be the responsibility of the committee.

In any case, I hope this more open process sets a precedent for consideration of future nominees. These two documents were obviously prepared for eventual public distribution, and in this kind of situation earlier disclosure is a great benefit to the public.

Senator to add transparency to confirmation process

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Laura Thielen is changing the way the Senate confirmation process works as she prepares for a public hearing on Carleton Ching’s controversial nomination to head the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

KITV reported last night that Thielen will be opening up the process by making information about Ching publicly available online in advance of the confirmation hearing scheduled for March 11.

Close to 1000 people have sent in testimony.

At last count, it was running 9 to 1 against him. Sen. Lauren Thielen wants to give voice to the public’s concerns. 
       
She intends to begin posting the testimony online well before the Wednesday hearing.
 
“We ask the nominees a number of questions in writing as well as get their resumes.  so we will be posting that on Monday,” said Thielen.

Thielen’s action came just a week after a post here noted the lack of information available to the public about the governor’s nominees (“State confirmation process lacks key information“).

That post noted that each nomination is sent to the legislature as a “governor’s message,” which contains nothing beyond the nominees name and the position they are being nominated to.

Nominations across the street at the city, by contrast, are accompanied by a resume with the educational background and work experience of the nominee.

We can hope that Thielen’s decision to make the process more transparent has the support of the Senate leadership and will set a precedent for future nominations.

The public would certainly benefit if that were to be the case.