Hawaii politics is not played in a vacuum. Usually, much of what is said and done happens in reaction to past history and its victories and defeats.

For instance, Lt. Gov. Josh Green is running for governor and is expected to be supported by the Carpenters Union and its affiliate, the Pacific Resource Partnership. Among his opponents is Vicky Cayetano, Hawaii’s former first lady and wife to former two-term governor, Ben Cayetano.

Back in 2012, Ben Cayetano ran for mayor of Honolulu. A major theme of his campaign was the city’s rail project, then calculated to cost $3 billion and now estimated at more than $10 billion.

Cayetano wanted to stop the rail but the Carpenters Union and PRP supported the project, heavy with good-paying union jobs.

The Carpenters ran a vicious anti-Cayetano campaign estimated at nearly $1.2 million to stop the former governor from becoming mayor. They were successful; Cayetano lost, but went to court. In the settlement, PRP made a half-page public apology in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and made a $100,000 donation to the University of Hawaii Medical School as well as a $25,000 donation to the Hawaiian Humane Society in Cayetano’s name.

The Carpenters and PRP are still major political players. In 2018 their super PAC donated heavily to Green’s lieutenant governor campaign, giving nearly an estimated half-million dollars through political action committees.

Green also hired Brooke Wilson, the former political and education director for the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters, as his chief of staff.

This year, a group called the Victory Calls PAC unleashed its own negative campaign against Green. The PAC is running television commercials and ads in the Star-Advertiser, attacking Green, saying he is not a “board certified emergency doctor” and has had to settle several ethics complaints.

That triggered Chris West, president of the ILWU Local 142, to accuse Vicky Cayetano’s gubernatorial campaign and a local political action committee of violating state campaign spending laws by running a linked campaign. Although she is not named as sponsoring the anti-Green ads, Cayetano supporters and acquaintances are linked to the Victory Calls PAC.

In response, Green says: “It’s disappointing when campaigns go negative and launch misleading attacks, but I’m going to stay positive and keep talking about issues.”

Hawaii is a little state on a series of small islands with a population that seems to know everyone in the state. Precisely how much they admire each other’s political judgment is open to debate.

The attack against Green, even if it is not proven to be firmly tied to the Cayetano campaign, contributed nothing to the race for governor except a desperation to attack. Candidates win by giving hope, not by spreading distrust.

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