News of the selection of V.R. Hinano Rodrigues was not welcomed by many of the same groups who had pushed to have the governor pick a candidate from the two remaining on the original list forwarded to him in February.
In an interview that Hawaiʻi News Now reporter Daryl Huff had with Green the day after the Rodrigues’ appointment was announced, Green was defiant and harshly criticized the groups opposed to the selection of Rodrigues, as well as the senator who will be presiding over his confirmation hearings when the Legislature is next in session.
“Let them see this person’s resume. It’s fantastic, you know. This is someone who has committed years and years of service in the field and by the way grows his own taro, for gosh sakes,” he said. (Rodrigues’ resume has not been made public.)
Sen. Lorraine Inouye, who chairs the Senate Water and Land Committee and who will be presiding over Rodrigues’ confirmation hearings, was also interviewed by Huff. She was skeptical about his background: “One needs to have some water resource management background,” she said. “Certainly from my standpoint it doesn’t seem like this gentleman is qualified. I can’t understand why the governor is already upsetting the community and not fulfilling the requirements of that seat.”
Green repeatedly described his critics as ideological with a singular focus on restoring streams. “I would ask those who bring an ideological position to instead trust that people are actually going to try to work in good faith,” he told Huff. As for Inouye and other senators, he suggested they “talk to the individual, find out where they’re coming from, long before lobbing a little hand grenade behind their back.”
“Let me frame this for everyone so they understand the position I was placed in,” Green said, speaking to the loea selection process. “We had four names, right? One person was not Hawaiian enough for others, okay? That’s what happened. The second person got afraid because they were attacked before they were even chosen, leaving only two people – who are excellent people but neither of them were either going to be confirmed by the Senate or capable of getting what we needed to get done for streams, for housing, for our next iteration of fire protection.”
He referenced Rodrigues’ 12-year tenure in the History and Culture Branch of the State Historic Preservation Division, but described the political headwinds he will likely face. “Because of people’s ideology, he is already going to be challenged. They haven’t even heard this guy speak for one moment about what he would do, and he’s from Wailuku. He’s a taro farmer, for gosh sakes. Let’s call it a small miracle that we found someone who can grow taro and also has some cultural experience.
“I think people need to calm down the ideological wars and instead of trying to just get their way, work with me. … I’m trying to move the ball to help protect people and improve their lives, in this case on Maui,” he said.
— Patricia Tummons
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