On Politics: Doc training helps Green, but no quick fix for state

Physicians sometimes, but not usually, drift into politics. To succeed in politics you need to appreciate nuance, the subtle differences in what both enemies and allies say. In contrast, docs give orders and they expect to be obeyed.

So for a physician, such as Hawaii’s Gov. Josh Green, who received his M.D. from Milton S. Hershey Medical Center at Pennsylvania State University, to succeed, he needs both agility and compassion.

So far, Green has been dancing just fine.

To emphasize that, Green provided the quick-thinking in two recent local emergencies. Early last month while on the Big Island, traveling with his security detail, they came upon a serious car accident. Green and his team helped pull out the driver; first responders arrived minutes later.

“Thank goodness he was seat-belted in,” Green said in media reports. “He was upside down in a totally smashed-up van. It appears he launched about 50 to 60 feet into the air and into the gulch, so his car was destroyed and we were able to get him out through the front windshield, removed a lot of rock, and seven or eight citizens with me, we just pulled this guy out.”

Then a little more than a week later during a Memorial Day service, it was Green jumping down from the stage to help a 46-year-old woman experiencing respiratory distress and beginning to lose consciousness, according to the governor’s office and the Honolulu Emergency Services Department.

“The woman was not breathing properly and began to have what appeared to be a hypoxic seizure,” Green said in a statement. “Honolulu Police Department Chief Joe Logan called 911, and I gently opened her airway. She immediately began to breathe on her own and regain consciousness. She was doing well within about three minutes.”

In a Hawaii government world, Green was something of a bureaucrat’s action hero.

Yesterday’s triumphs, however, only go so far. Gov. Green is now facing not emergencies, but dilemmas.

Quick wits, an advanced degree and training help, but won’t answer a series of tricky political questions.

Former Gov. David Ige and his crew were all over the map looking for a solution for what to do about the 48-year-old, rusted and finally condemned Aloha Stadium. Obviously it needs to be replaced — but how, where, when and with what are all questions Green has to answer before facing reelection in 2026. Green, like Ige, set up a process to reach a decision, but fans are still waiting for when they can shout “Go ‘Bows!” in a real stadium.

Green also inherits the rest of Ige’s uncompleted challenges. For instance, Green has not been a fan of the Big Island’s controversial Thirty Meter Telescope, giving no detailed plans for what goes where and when it is pau. And the 21st Century Kalihi Initiative — did that already happen and we just missed the opening ceremony? There is a lot of talk, but no detailed provision for what is going to replace the Oahu jail and its relocation. The state Health Department has perfectly good plans for a new building, estimated at $100 million: Will this administration use them, tear them up, or what? Lots of major projects just waiting for Dr. Green’s action.

It isn’t just a question of go or no; the question for the governor is, in what direction are we headed?

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.