A search committee today recommended that the Hawaii Tourism Authority hire former state senator and Democratic Party Chairman Mike McCartney to head the state's lead tourism agency.

MCartney, who also who served as chairman of the HTA board until 2004, was one of two finalists for the job.

"The committee undertook a rigorous search process and considered several well-qualified candidates. In selecting Michael, we felt that he will bring the right combination of industry knowledge, community credibility and the ability to build bridges between the many stakeholders that HTA serves," said Kelvin Bloom, HTA board chairman.

"His experience as the former chair of HTA, his history of community service, and his long-standing relationships with government made Michael the right candidate to help HTA address both our immediate and long-term needs."

The recommendation will be submitted to the full board at its next meeting March 6.

"I am honored to be selected by the committee for the position of HTA's president and CEO," said McCartney. "Helping to ensure the success of Hawai'i's leading industry is a responsibility I embrace, and I look forward to working with the board, the industry, the community, our leaders in government, and HTA staff."

The board's investigative search committee had narrowed its selection to two finalists by early this week before making its recommendation today. The other finalist was former Hawaiian Airlines executive Paul Casey.

McCartney, who headed PBS Hawaii while serving as HTA chairman, was replaced on the board by Gov. Linda Lingle, who said she wanted more people with day-to-day tourism experience.

McCartney was put on the board by former Gov. Ben Cayetano, who had chosen to broaden the body beyond strictly industry people.

When Cayetano was governor he said, "What has dominated the HTA over its short life has been this mentality, spawned mostly by the hotel people, that whatever is good for the hotels is good for tourism, and that's not necessarily the case because there are larger goals that we have for tourism."

Currently, McCartney serves as executive director of the teachers union, the Hawaii State Teachers Association, with a membership of 13,500.

The Hawai'i Tourism Authority board paid the the Mainland search firm SearchWide $90,000 to conduct a search that attracted wide interest for the job.

The agency's former president, Rex Johnson, resigned under pressure last year after having his $240,000 a year salary reduced to $200,000 in the wake of controversy. He came under fire after it was revealed that he had forwarded e-mails on his state computer that contained jokes that included sexist, racist and X-rated content.

The job is seen as key at this time because tourism — the state's No. 1 industry — is reeling from 11 months of double-digit declines in the number of visitor arrivals. Tourism officials across the nation and world are feeling the ripples of a troubled economy that is prompting many would-be travelers to cancel their vacations.

McCartney served in the state Legislature as a state senator from Kane'ohe from 1988 through 1998. In addition to serving in the state Senate, he has held a negotiation post with the Hawaii State Teachers Association, and was director of the state Department of Human Resources Development.