Gov. Neil Abercrombie has rejected a request by Sen. Donna Mercado Kim for the list of nominees to the state water commission, according to documents sent to Civil Beat. 

Earlier this month Abercrombie selected Kamanamaikalani Beamer and Milton Pavao to serve on the commission, which has a history of being embroiled in debates over the allocation of water resources between large ag interests and native Hawaiian taro farmers. 

The governor’s selections were made from a list of candidates chosen by a nominating committee for the Commission on Water Resource Management. Kim requested the full list of nominees, according to correspondence between the Office of Information Practice, CWRM and Tony Benabese, the manager of boards and commissions for Abercrombie. 

Last year, Civil Beat also requested this information from the governor’s office and CWRM. But the requests were denied and the Office of Information Practices, which oversees Hawaii’s open records law, said that the governor’s office did not have to disclose the lists. 

(Photo: CWRM)

— Sophie Cocke