Some folks at the Big Square Building on Beretania have been passing around a committee report from 2007 regarding Laura Thielen, who at the time was Gov. Linda Lingle’s nominee to lead the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Today, of course, Thielen is the state senator who helped lead the rejection of Carleton Ching, Gov. David Ige’s nominee for the DLNR post.

In 2007, Thielen was Lingle’s second pick for the job, the Senate having rejected Peter Young, who ran DLNR during Lingle’s first term, for reappointment.

Sen. Laura Thielen.

Cory Lum/Civil Beat

As the committee report (posted below) from Sen. Clayton Hee explained, Thielen — who was the acting DLNR chairwoman at the time — received tons of supportive testimony from a variety of groups and individuals. Opposition testimony was slight.

Still, Hee, the chair of the Water and land Committee — the same position Thielen holds today — said in his report that the committee had “many strong concerns” about the nominee, including Thielen’s qualifications to lead the State Historic Preservation Division under DLNR.

In the end, however, Hee’s committee unanimously approved the nomination.

When the nomination went to the full Senate, on Oct. 31, 2007, the vote was 25-0, although five senators voted “with reservations.

Those five senators included Donna Mercado Kim, now Senate president; Kalani English, now Senate majority leader; and — drum roll, please — David Ige.