Green’s Cabinet nominees face tough slog in Hawaii Senate

There is no shortage of theories swirling in and around the state Capitol to explain Gov. Josh Green’s two failed Cabinet nominees and one whose confirmation ended in a tie — an unusually high rejection count for a popular governor midway through his first legislative session.

Some speculate there’s a plot by Senate leaders to slow the momentum of a governor who, as a state senator, was considered an outsider as a member of “The Chess Club” faction of independent-minded senators.

But there’s also talk of an effort to show Green who’s really in charge of state government, a phenomenon that former state Sen. Gary Hooser of Kauai calls “The Big Dog Syndrome.”

“The people’s work suffers because of all the egos involved,” Hooser said.

Former state Sen. Russell Ruderman retired in 2020 after two four-year terms as a member of “The Chess Club” — one of three Senate factions.

They refused to trade their votes for political favors, he said, and Ruderman was removed as chair of the Senate Agricultural Committee, an important role for a senator representing rural parts of Hawaii island.

“Josh found a way not to play the game with these bullies and he leapfrogged over them and they never forgave him,” Ruderman said. “So now there’s a lot of payback against Josh for failing to bow to the bullies and for being more successful than them.”

Ruderman compared the current situation between the Senate and the fifth floor of the state Capitol to a Hawaiian a‘ama crab trying to climb out of a bucket, only to be pulled down by the others.

“There’s a lot of that going around,” Ruderman said.

On Friday the full Senate rejected two of Green’s nominees — Chris Sadayasu to run the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism; and Scott Glenn to lead the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development.

RELATED STORY: Past Hawaii governors also hit nomination roadblocks

Green told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Wednesday that “some personal feelings and long-standing grudges appear to get in the way on two or three of our nominees but we’re moving past that now, I hope. … They may have been political collateral damage. And the people don’t want political collateral damage. They want results.

“It’s important that we show the aloha spirit to the people who are willing to be public servants,” he said.

Scott Glenn’s nomination to lead the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development ended in a 12-12 tie, also on Friday, meaning he remains acting director unless Senate leaders hold another vote on Glenn by the end of the legislative session.

If they tell Green that they’re willing to consider another vote, then Green said he’ll ask Glenn how he wants to proceed.

“It was a tie,” Green said. “As a sports fan, I like going into overtime.”

DLNR nominee up next

Green’s nominee to lead the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, Dawn Chang, likely faces her own contentious confirmation hearing on Friday, particularly from Native Hawaiian critics.

Senators are being blasted with emails from Chang’s critics for her prior work as a consultant advising Kawaiaha‘o Church leaders on how to avoid a high-level archaeological review by DLNR’s State Historic Preservation Division for a project that would have disturbed ancient Hawaiian burials to make way for a new building.

The project led to protests and legal challenges and was never built.

State Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole (D, Kaneohe-Kailua) and other senators said that the heightened scrutiny of Green’s nominees follows the state’s response to COVID-19, when some of then-Gov. David Ige’s department heads wilted under the pressure and others “emerged as stars coming out of the pandemic,” Keohokalole said.

“We have real experience dealing with administrators under tense circumstances and so it’s causing a level of scrutiny that maybe hasn’t happened in the past,” Keohokalole said. “I’m looking for confidence, character, comprehension of the department and the subject matter but also composure because we know that crises will come up in the future. And several of the nominees have problems with composure. And it raises questions about how they’re going to respond in the future.”

Out of Green’s 20 Cabinet nominees, three have been confirmed, including Catherine Betts, confirmed Wednesday as director of the Department of Human Services in a 23-0 Senate floor vote. Betts has been the department’s director since late 2020 after serving as deputy director since 2017.

State Sen. Carol Fukunaga, (D, Manoa-Tantalus-Makiki), served in the Senate between 1992 to 2012 and left for 10 years to serve on the Honolulu City Council until term limits barred her from seeking reelection.

She returned this year to a changed Senate landscape.

Asked what’s driving Green’s failed Cabinet nominees, Fukunaga had no explanation but said, “Oh my goodness. Wow. I am just as surprised and really don’t know what to make of all of this. It’s very different than my prior (Senate) experience.”

Then she later said: “What it tells me is that Gov. Green did not have as close a working relationship (with Senate leadership) as other governors have had in the past.”

Fukunaga also was part of The Chess Club, which she described as “a broad progressive wing. We were kind of nerdy and techie and whatnot.”

Fukunaga represented the lone vote on the Senate Committee on Energy, Economic Development and Tourism earlier this month to recommend confirmation of Sadayasu to lead the sprawling state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Sadayasu — like Green’s original nominee to lead the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, Ikaika Anderson — also stumbled in early budget briefings before his official confirmation hearing.

Keohokalole — who co-chairs the Legislature’s Native Hawaiian Caucus — later joined the majority of members of the Senate Hawaiian Affairs Committee in voting not to recommend Anderson’s confirmation to the full Senate. Anderson then withdrew his nomination.

But Sadayasu took his confirmation to the full Senate, which rejected him Friday by a vote of 8-15.

Adding to the intrigue are two senators who flip-flopped their votes and a third who did not show up to vote on Friday, leaving Glenn in a tie to lead the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development.

Sens. Stanley Chang (D, Hawaii Kai-Kahala-Diamond Head) and Angus McKelvey (D, West Maui-Maalaea-South Maui) were part of a 4-1 majority vote by the Committee on Water and Land to recommend Glenn’s confirmation.

Then last week, on the Senate floor, they voted against Glenn without explanation.

In the 25-member Senate, a vote by Joy A. San Buenaventura (D, Puna) would have broken Glenn’s 12-12 deadlock. San Buenaventura’s absence for the vote remains a mystery.

Neither she nor Chang responded to repeated requests for comment.

“I saw her in committee that morning in Judiciary,” said Sen. Brenton Awa, (R, Kaneohe-Laie-Mokuleia).

Awa voted against Glenn’s confirmation in the full Senate because he does not like the state’s plans to relocate entire communities in his northern Windward district further mauka rather than do more to adapt to sea level rise over the next 50 years, based on climate change forecasts by the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development.

McKelvey told the Star-Advertiser in a statement Wednesday that some OPSD employees and entities attached to the agency say opinions of experts are disregarded.

“Some in critical positions have already left and others have said they will leave if the confirmation goes through,” McKelvey said. “The state faces a significant workforce shortage in all agencies and we cannot afford to lose qualified staff and, in particular, in an office that plans for our future. We need leaders who can inspire and support them. Thus (I) could not support the nomination any longer.”

Early briefing struggles

Sen. Lorraine Inouye, (D, Hilo-Pepeekeo), chairs the Senate Committee on Water and Land, which has scheduled a three-hour confirmation hearing Friday afternoon for Dawn Chang, Green’s DLNR nominee.

Inouye, like her Senate colleagues, has received “many many” emails in opposition to Chang’s confirmation, primarily from Native Hawaiians.

“I’m told there’s going to be a whole lot of people” opposed, she said.

Keohokalole listed a handful of other Green nominees who also struggled in early briefings before the Senate, including Anne Lopez as state attorney general.

In subsequent committee hearings on various bills, however, Lopez has “risen to the occasion,” Keohokalole said.

So Friday’s confirmation hearing for Chang “will definitely illuminate whether she has those type of skills, or not, to be composed to show that she comprehends the job and that she’s competent,” Keohokalole said. “It’s a tough department. … If she can’t handle difficult questions from the Senate, how does that bode with the department’s handling of really contentious issues? … I am unapologetic for the scrutiny.”

Inouye, Keohokalole, Fukunaga, Awa and other senators all said that no one has lobbied them to vote a certain way on any of Green’s nominees.

“The short answer is no,” Keohokalole said.

Former Sen. Ruderman insisted that wasn’t his experience.

He listed several committee chairs, especially Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, chair of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, and Sen. Michelle Kidani — whom Ruderman repeatedly called “bullies.”

“They’s all so very vengeful,” Ruderman said. “They punish people to the point that no one else will cross them. Josh Green got elected with an overwhelming margin and came in and wanted to do bold things and do them quickly. They want the status quo and they want their own power.”

Other current and former senators also mentioned bullying by Sen. Donna Mercado Kim.

Areas of agreement

Kim and Kidani did not respond to Star-Advertiser requests for comment, but Dela Cruz said the continuing progress of Green-backed bills through the Legislature belies the theory that senators are trying to block Green’s agenda — and insisted that there is no arm twisting of colleagues to vote a certain way.

“Nah, nah, that’s hogwash,” Dela Cruz said. “All 25 members are 25 individuals who have their own thoughts and they can’t be easily swayed.”

Media coverage of Green’s failed Cabinet nominees has overshadowed the many areas where the Legislature agrees with Green’s “big ticket policies,” Dela Cruz said, including the need to develop more affordable housing, address climate change, health care and other issues.

Green mentioned the possibility of Hawaii building a federally backed “hydrogen hub” during his State of the State Address without proposing any legislation, so Dela Cruz said he introduced a bill to pave the way for it.

“There are going to be things we differ on,” Dela Cruz said. “But there’s no conspiracy. We’re way above that. I’m not sure who benefits from the chaos to keep conflicts on the front page.”

Chang’s DLNR confirmation hearing on Friday will determine how Green’s next high-profile nominee fares in the Senate.

“We’ll see how Dawn answers the questions and we’ll base our decisions on how that goes at the hearing,” said Senate President Ron Kouchi (D, Kauai-­Niihau).

He emphasized that some nominees who struggled in the early days of the legislative session have been asked to return to address questions and concerns to give them “a second chance, a third chance in some instances.”

Among them, Kouchi said, are Sharon Hurd, Green’s nominee to lead the state Department of Agriculture.

She has since been unanimously recommended for confirmation by the Senate Agriculture and Environment Committee.

All Cabinet nominees should be prepared for the unknown, Kouchi said, such as the situation faced by the state Department of Labor and Industrial relations when the lowest unemployment rate in the nation quickly zoomed to the highest during the early days of the COVID pandemic.

“We want them to stand up to the ability to perform that would be critical to any department head,” Kouchi said. “Each role is critical. We found that with the Department of Labor. There isn’t a department that potentially won’t be tested for a level of adversity.”

“If people succeed,” Kouchi said, “that would be good for Hawaii.”

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Star-Advertiser staff writer Andrew Gomes contributed to this report.