David Ige is running a straight-forward administration that shows a sober and rational governorship.

His shortcoming is that there is more to being governor of Hawaii than being the adult in the room.

Communications is not a bonus skill, it is a necessity.

Last week, he held a 48-minute news conference in his state Capitol office, his first formal news conference since his inauguration in December.

As they say in the movies: "What we’ve got here is failure to communicate."

Ige sought to explain his leadership style when he was asked what he is doing, because he has been mostly invisible.

"I have learned from my time at the Capitol that it is about collaboration and working together. I don’t believe it is about posturing," Ige told reporters.

Ige has a good job description, saying he thinks "being governor is about making it work."

But, Ige also acknowledged that "I know that many would like me to be more vocal and push the envelope; I prefer to get ideas together and engage groups to talk about it and then get things working."

That would be good enough if the state’s 1.4 million citizens were all kind of hanging out together and chilling and not expecting too much.

Of course, that is not the case. Hawaii is its own cauldron of mixed interests, all wanting attention and action.

Commuters, single moms, farmers, laborers and students are all looking for their own solutions from government.

For example, more community interest groups are starting to press for both information and definitive action regarding the pending $4 billion sale of Hawaiian Electric Industries to Florida-based NextEra Energy.

Ige said during his news conference that he has already moved ahead with a revamping of the Public Utilities Commission, which must decide on the sale. The changes were passed by last year’s Legislature, so as a former state senator, he was a player in the deal.

Still it took Ige as governor to pull the trigger.

"I authorized the reorganization of the PUC; I have authorized him (Randy Iwase, newly appointed PUC chairman) to redefine positions so he can hire the quality technical staff he needs. I authorized the hiring of an executive director," Ige said.

This was also mentioned when Ige was interviewed outside the House Democratic caucus room after his State of the State speech, but grab-and-go sound bites are something less than a careful public discussion of the issues.

Actually Ige was poorly served by ending his maiden State of the State with a jostling media herd.

At one time, governors would use the annual address to the Legislature to set priorities for the administration and give the public an understanding of gubernatorial policy. Usually the speech launched a series of speeches around the community as the governor explained and sold the high points.

Ige’s speech this year was just lost in static.

At last week’s news conference, Ige again assured all that silence did not mean he wasn’t working.

"You won’t hear big pronouncements about how I am going to save the public hospitals, but I can assure you that there are many meetings to talk about what needs to get done to make public hospitals more sustainable, and at some point in time, we will have an announcement to make because we would have put together the pieces," Ige promised.

If the administration was open, Ige would have a public list of his meetings, the public would know what was being done and everyone would know who went to the meetings.

Holing up with the big cheeses that can solve the state’s hospital crisis is good, but opening the door to let the public see inside is what transparency is about.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.