Just as the COVID-19 pandemic is reshaping how nations, states and cities react to the health crisis, Hawaii’s politics changed as it fought the disease.
We may still be debating Hawaii’s political losers from the 2020 COVID-19 crisis, but a definite winner is emergency physician and Lt. Gov. Josh Green. His medical degree is a political advantage that appears to be tattooed into his psyche. The medical references even pepper his speech.
Other politicians may be ready to go, but as Green told me during an interview several years ago, “I remain ready, on call to help with whatever the administration needs.”
“I am going to be very active in the community, including starting free clinics, medical respite facilities. It won’t be uncommon for me to throw my scrubs on and volunteer in clinics after I leave work at the Capitol,” Green said in the interview.
In March of 2020, Gov. David Ige issued the first coronavirus emergency proclamation. Critics said Ige was slow to act. The first Health Department point team with Bruce Anderson as health director and Sarah Park as state epidemiologist left as COVID-19 raged. The Star-Advertiser reported Park was placed on paid leave four days after Anderson said he would retire. Both spoke publicly against mass testing and the need to get major help from outside the agency for contact tracing, sparking criticism of their leadership.
It could have been the moment for a political attack, but Green kept the focus of the health crisis.
“We’re rocketing upward. By the end of February, I expect we’ll have 350,000 doses given,” Green reported about COVID-19 vaccinations in February of last year.
If Green wanted to be a team player, it clearly wasn’t a feeling going both ways. Tension between Green and Ige showed as Ige X’ed out Green by failing to invite him to coronavirus briefings — until Green stood up for himself, calling for state policy featuring greater social distancing, more testing and stricter ways to stop the disease.
The extra arrow in Green’s quiver was his skill at putting on the ubiquitous hospital greens and appointing himself physician and health savior for the state.
“Can you imagine for one second that I’m not going to fight for one second to save lives?” Green asked in testimony before the Big Island County Council.
“I do my best to share what I think will save lives, and if they don’t accept that, I’ll share it with the entire planet and then they can catch up later. … I refuse to not be heard.”
Green’s ability to see health issues in terms of impending or actual health catastrophes make him a difficult debate opponent. Ige eventually called a truce, and had a long evening phone call with the impetuous lieutenant governor.
“The governor and I had a very constructive meeting to clarify my role in the COVID-19 response and I greatly appreciated it,” Green told me.
Green went on to fashion himself as Hawaii’s No. 1 COVID-19 fighter with a performance that few wanted to dispute.
Now running for governor in the Democratic primary election, Green has defined the issues and put himself in a position to be the solution — and what could be the No. 1 success story to come out of the pandemic.
Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.
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