Abercrombie Names 5 more to Admisitrative Posts

By Wendy Osher

Neil Abercrombie. File photo by Wendy Osher.

A former Maui resident is among five additional people who received administrative appointments from Governor Abercrombie today.

Jesse Souki, a former Deputy Corporation Counsel with the County of Maui, was named Director of the state Office of Planning.  Souki, 36, currently serves as Deputy Corporation Counsel for the City and County of Honolulu,where he provides advice on regulatory issues include opinions on the city’s rail transit project.  Prior to that, he was a Senior Associate at Imanaka Kudo & Fujimoto LLLC, and a law clerk at Hawaii State Judiciary in Wailuku. Mr. Souki earned his Bachelor’s in Economics and Master’s in Political Science from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and his law degree from Seattle University School of Law.

Gregory Jackson was nominated to serve as Director of the Office of Veteran Services.  Jackson was a captain and a Judge Advocate in the U.S. Air Force for six years. He was deployed to Baghdad in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2007.  Jackson, 37, currently works at the Law Offices of Paul Cunney practicing criminal defense in state court and military courts-martial.  Prior to joining the Air Force, he was an Associate Attorney at Goodsill Anderson Quinn and Stifel. Jackson received his Bachelor’s degree in English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and law degree from Northeastern University School of Law.

Russell A. Suzuki was appointed First Deputy Attorney General.  Suzuki served for 29 years a a government attorney with various departments including Office of the Governor, Office of the Lt. Governor, Department of Accounting and General Service, Department of Budget and Finance, Department of Education, the University of Hawaii, and the Hawaii Judiciary.  As a deputy attorney general, Suzuki was the State’s lead attorney for more than a decade in the Felix consent decree litigation involving the delivery of mental health services to disabled children.

Keith Kamita, was named Deputy Director of Law Enforcement for the Department of Public Safety.  Kamita served for the past 24 years as a Narcotics Investigator with DPS.  Seventeen of those years were spent as Chief of the Narcotics Enforcement Division. As Chief of this division, Kamita coordinated the implementation of Hawaii’s electronic prescription monitoring and pseudoephedrine tracking systems.

Martha Torney, was selected as the Deputy Director of Administration for the Department of Public Safety.  Torney is a criminologist, working 35 years with the juvenile and adult justice system. Ms. Torney, 61, was the former Executive Director of the Office of Youth Services within the Department of Public Safety.  She was a college instructor for 20 years, offering courses in sociology, criminology and justice administration.  Torney holds a Master’s and a Bachelor’s degree from UH-Manoa.