Kahele accuses Green of ‘blatant lie’ after Hawaiian Home Lands claim
Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Josh Green accused Kahele of ‘misleading attacks.’
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Mud-slinging in the Democratic race for governor continues with a new accusation from U.S. Rep. Kahele.
Kahele claims Lt. Gov. Josh Green lied when speaking about his mother-in-law and Hawaiian Home Lands in order to score political points.
In 2019, Green spoke at the Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations and said his mother-in-law died on the Hawaiian Home Lands wait list.
“She was on the list to receive the land, that piece of land from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands,” he said. “She didn’t get to have a piece of land.”
DHHL says a review of its records could not substantiate has or had been an applicant on the DHHL wait list, but adds she may have been qualified to receive an award.
Green’s campaign, meanwhile, has said he misspoke. And Kahele has jumped on the issue.
In an email blast over the weekend, Kahele accused Green of “trying to cover up his blatant lie.”
“Saying it once could be a mistake, but continuing to say it again is something that needs to be addressed,” Kahele said. “If you want to be the governor of this state, words matter.”
Green’s campaign says his wife Jamie’s mother, Yvonne Makaimoku Ushiroda, was 50% Native Hawaiian and entitled to DHHL benefits when she died.
“My wife’s mother, Yvonne, passed away from gastric cancer, 50% Hawaiian, entitled to be on a Hawaiian homeland property, didn’t live to see that day,” said Green, during “The Job Interview” on Hawaii News Now.
Green’s campaign issued this statement: “It’s deeply disappointing that Congressman Kahele continues to smear others with misleading attacks when he should be in Washington D.C. doing the job he was elected to do.”
HNN political analyst Colin Moore says he can’t remember a time when local politics has been this “nasty.”
He adds people are forgetting the big issue.
“Jamie Green’s mom died when she was 42. There’s a person at the center of this and that is the failure of the state of Hawaii to provide people homes,” said Moore.
An HNN-Civil Beat poll last month showed Green and Kahele splitting the Native Hawaiian vote.
Moore says any last-minute developments aren’t likely to have a major impact on the outcome of the election because people have already made up their minds and many have already voted by mail.
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