Elections 2022: PBS Hawaii Gubernatorial Candidates Forum

On July 7, 2022, INSIGHTS ON PBS HAWAIĘ»I hosted this Thursday night at 7:30 on PBS Hawai’i and was streamed on Facebook.

There were many questions asked but not all were addressed. Only three candidates were chosen to be on this panel.

Again, this choice was probably based on the amounts of donations that a candidate was able to raise.

Check this program out and form your own opinions.

I tried to ask the questions pertaining to Campaign Finance Reform. Finance is the foundational structure of American politics today.

Unfortunately, not much time was spent in this area. I would have liked to see more probing questions into the campaign finance data and the major donors of candidates.

Lt. Governor Josh Green has been a politician for the last 18 years. Green has maintained a long list of donors. He has a questionable record.

Green’s record shows blatant “PAY TO PLAY” from every angle I look at it.

Upon being elected to the office of Lt. Governor in 2018, Josh Green appointed an official from the same union that donated $1M to him as his Chief of Staff. This is very significant. The Chief of Staff controls the entire operations of the public office.

Green appointed deputy Chief of Staff who was with the Healthcare Association of Hawaii.

The Lt. Governor’s Senior Policy Advisor is from the Insurance sector.


Where does this leave us the ordinary people?

Not allowing all candidates the opportunity to participate in the public dialogue is far from the ideals of a democracy.

What to do? Provide independent citizenship media outlets?

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