First an update on a future dog for Hawaii’s first family:
Gov. Josh Green, a dog lover, wanted to get a dog for himself and his family of two school-age children when they moved out of their condo on the edge of Chinatown in December and into the fenced-in grounds of Washington Place, the governor’s mansion.
But first lady Jaime Green told the Honolulu Star- Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” livestream program on Friday that she does not want the responsibility of taking care of a dog amid all of her other duties. And their children have made it clear they don’t want to walk a dog.
She described the issue of getting a dog a disagreement between the governor “and the rest of us. … The kids are realistic,” she said. “They don’t want to walk the dog.”
Green said she has hypoallergenic issues, as well, but did not rule out the possibility that the family will someday get a dog. “It’s still to be determined when that will happen,” she said.
As she spoke, the governor messaged “Spotlight,” “I will walk this dog.”
The first lady has an office on the fifth floor of the state Capitol near Gov. Green’s office.
An attorney, her background is in family law, and she has shown a passion for nonprofit work helping children and families. She said her “heart” is in child advocacy.
She met the governor while working with former state Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland.
Her plan is to help Hawaii families under the “umbrella” of helping children, especially by working with the Hawaii Food Bank.
Hawaii has the second-highest rate in the nation for food insecurity among children, she said. “For us to have the second-highest rate is just unbelievable to me.”
She considers herself Hawaiian but also carries Japanese, Chinese and Caucasian heritage with Korean and African American family members.
One of her goals is to help create a Hawaiian Cultural Center to recognize Hawaii’s host culture.
“It’s really about doing right by the Indigenous people,” she said.
Other goals are addressing mental health services and helping the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands clear the backlog of 28,000 Native Hawaiians waiting for homes.
She hopes to make progress by “bringing people to the table.”
