Gov. Linda Lingle today announced the three new members of the Hawai`i Paroling Authority: Albert Tufono, Dane K. Oda, and Edward M. Slavish. Tufono, a youth corrections specialist, will serve as chair. Oda is a former Kaua`i police sergeant, and Slavish heads his own real estate firm. "The Parole Board has faced some high-profile challenges in recent months," Lingle said, alluding to unrelated controversies that prompted two of the previous board members to resign earlier this year. "I'm confident our three new board members will focus on the job before them and carry out their responsibilities fairly, with the utmost integrity, and with an overriding concern for the safety of our community."

Although effective immediately, the appointments are all subject to Senate confirmation.

Two vacancies on the three-member board were created when former board chairman Alfred K. Beaver and former member Lani Rae Garcia resigned in March and April, respectively — Garcia over domestic abuse charges that are still pending, and Beaver after an investigation by the Attorney General's Office found questionable decisions in a handful of cases. The resignations had halted the board's work until interim members could be appointed.

Mary Tiwanak, the last remaining board member, left when her term expired June 30.

The Hawai`i Paroling Authority sets minimum terms of imprisonment, grants, denies, and revokes parole, and oversees paroled individuals. The authority also investigates and comments on applications for gubernatorial pardons.

The governor's office published the following biographies of the three new members:

• Albert Tufono
  
  Tufono served on the Hawai`i Paroling Authority earlier this year on a part-time, temporary basis. He has been a corrections program specialist with the Office of Youth Services/Hawai`i Youth Correctional Facility since 2001. In this position, he has focused on the facility's employee sick leave evaluation and gender-specific female programs. He also was assigned to review, evaluate, and assess its juvenile assessment policy and procedures, and provide recommendations for a new risk and needs assessment program.
  
  Prior to this, Tufono was a children and youth specialist with the Office of Youth Services. He also served as a recreation specialist for the City and County's Department of Parks and Recreation from 1997 to 1999, and for the Department of Parks and Recreation of Washington state from 1992 to 1997.
  
  
• Dane Oda
  
  Oda spent the past 20 years as the Kaua`i terminal manager for stevedore firm McCabe, Hamilton & Renny. Prior to that, he was a police sergeant with the Kaua`i Police Department, where he served on the force for eight-and-a-half years. Oda is a former instructor at Kaua`i Community College where he taught courses in psychology, sociology, police science, and criminal and deviant behavior. He also was a research coordinator for Kaua`i County's Prosecuting Attorney's Office, and a research assistant with the State Law Enforcement and Juvenile Delinquency Planning Agency.
  
  Oda is the past president of Kaua`i 200, an organization comprised of community leaders who support the Kaua`i Police and Fire Departments. He also has served on the Kaua`i County Planning Commission, Kaua`i County Water Department Board of Directors, Lihue Credit Union Board of Directors, State Gang Response Committee, State Crime Commission, and State Maritime Commission. Oda is a Lihue Hongwanji Mission Boy Scout Troop (Troop 83) commissioner. He earned master's and bachelor's degrees from the University of Hawai`i.
  
  
• Edward Slavish
  
  Slavish is president of Slavish & Associates, Inc., a commercial real estate brokerage and consulting firm, which focuses on commercial and industrial leasing and sales. He also is president of Arizona Ventures, Inc., a holding company and the general partner for five limited partnerships for five apartment complexes in Phoenix and Tucson. Slavish also served as vice president of Fort Street Ventures, Inc., which acquired and managed several semi-historic commercial properties in downtown Honolulu.
  
  Slavish is president and board member of the John Howard Association, a nonprofit organization that assists offenders, offenders' families, ex-offenders, and youth involved in the criminal justice system to assume full and productive membership in the community. He is also a member of the Downtown Exchange Club, chairman of the Sony Open ProAm Tournament, and a homebound minister with St. Anthony's Catholic Church. Slavish is a graduate of La Salle University in Philadelphia, Pa., and attended the University of Hawai`i's MBA program.