In ‘The Job Interview,’ Green bristles at opponents’ attacks and seeks to defend his record

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - In a recent interview with Hawaii News Now and Civil Beat for “The Job Interview,” Lt. Gov. Josh Green was fired up about attacks from his opponents ― calling them “hypocritical.”

“We know that they coordinated their attacks,” said Green, who is polling ahead of Vicky Cayetano and Kai Kahele heading into the primary election Aug. 13.

“The other gentleman has raised money in his own super PAC for a long time,” he added.

Four leading candidates for governor participated in “The Job Interview,” with B.J. Penn and Duke AIona declining.

In his hour-long interview with HNN and Civil Beat journalists, Green underscored his work as the state’s COVID response liaison during the pandemic.

THE JOB INTERVIEW: Watch “The Job Interview” with Josh Green on Tuesday at 8 p.m. on K5. You can also watch all of our in-depth conversations with candidates in our special section.

He received both praise and criticism for that role, but Green defended his leadership.

“It was very dynamic. You had to actually look at the data every single day, and we didn’t know how different variants were going to behave and I would never say that I would do it differently,” he said.

He also talked about the controversial Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea.

“Would I send someone in for arrests? The answer is no because you actually have to build these projects in a way that both parties are accepting it,” said Green.

SPECIAL SECTION: “The Job Interview”

“You wouldn’t uphold the law?” asked Chad Blair, Civil Beat politics and opinion editor.

“Hold on a second,” Green responded.

“What I would do is create an environment where we actually had two groups wanting to build together and the law, the law for the Hawaiian people felt violated.”

To battle inflation, Green wants to get rid of the general excise tax on food and health care.

He also wants to manage tourism with impact fees for tourists, and he touts gearing up the state’s safe travels program and securing private partnerships for tiny homes for the homeless.

“We just had to act. That was leadership,” said Green.

Overall, the panel felt Green was well prepared and held his own during the tough questions.

“He’s mastered the policy details, he stayed calm throughout the entire thing, he even made a concerted effort to show he likes Governor Ige,” said Colin Moore, HNN’s political analyst.

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