Gov. Green says investigation was taking a toll on Sylvia Luke - West Hawaii Today

Gov. Josh Green granted media access Friday to address questions about the future of Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke.

Sylvia Luke was so affected emotionally and physically over a state Attorney General's investigation, Gov. Josh Green said, he worried about her health and intentionally left her out of important meetings, such as the state's responses to the back-to- back-to-back storms that began in March.

"It was really affecting her and that was a concern I had just as a governor," Green told the Honolulu Star- Advertiser in his Capitol office on Friday. "I was worried that she couldn't be at her best. And you have to be at your best in this job. You have to be able to focus. I mean we had a gigantic flood. And because of this circumstance, I really had no choice but to do it just with my adjutant general. We couldn't bring in the lieutenant governor or her team because this whole thing was hanging over them. Decisions have to get made in the moment as the investigation seemed to be more and more serious. So I wasn't able to really lean on her or her team, even though we've had a very good run for three years."

As speculation increased that Luke may be the "influential state legislator" who allegedly accepted $35,000 in cash in a paper bag, Green canceled multiple trips that would have left Luke temporarily in charge of the state.

Green has not been interviewed as part of the investigation and has purposely kept it at arm's length, he said.

"I really don't know any of the details of the Attorney General's investigation," Green said.

But he and Attorney General Anne E. Lopez agreed that she would notify him of any critical developments, such as Luke becoming a target.

"I had spoken with the attorney general over the last several weeks and we agreed that if things got serious enough where it would impede her (Luke's) capacity to govern, that I had to know," Green said.

On Wednesday, Lopez informed Green that her office had sent target letters to Luke and others.

"That's when everything kind of started to explode," Green said. "In order to maintain public trust, if there's a circumstance in which things are so serious that there's a target letter and a possible indictment, then that's too much to hang over somebody and they need to step away. ... So when it crossed that threshold with a target letter, that's when I knew that we had to sit down and talk about a potential leave of absence or other alternatives that we could discuss. There was no question that we had to meet."

Green asked Luke to see him in his office Thursday morning to discuss her future.

"There was some discussion as to whether she would resign altogether," Green said. "But in truth, I don't want to ever be judge and jury. It was emotional. It was very tough for her. It was also tough for me to be so direct. And we just had a heart-to-heart talk."

Luke left for about an hour to consider her future and then told Green that she would go on a leave of absence.

"To the lieutenant governor's credit, she insisted that it be an unpaid leave," Green said. "That was her idea. So I think that was the right thing to do. My hope is that she's able to now spend time and find whatever kind of closure or resolution she can.

"She did a good job with early education and preschools and broadband," Green said. "I'm pleased with that work. But I'm sad that this event from 2022 caught up with her and it has to be resolved."

On Jan. 20, 2022, Luke, the then-chair of the powerful House Finance Committee, had dinner with her House Finance Committee Vice Chair Ty J.K. Cullen, lobbyist Tobi Solidum and Solidum's daughter, Kristen Pae.

Luke was running for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor while Rep. Cullen was acting as an FBI informant and recorded the meeting after he was caught by FBI agents taking bribes from the waste water systems executive Milton J. Choy.

In February, Cullen and former Senate Majority Leader J. Kalani English entered separate guilty pleas in federal court to a single count of wire fraud for accepting cash in envelopes, Las Vegas hotel rooms, dinners for friends, casino chips and access to high-stakes gambling in New Orleans between 2014 and 2021. In exchange, the two lawmakers worked to manipulate and kill legislation to benefit Choy and his company.

Luke told the Star-­Advertiser this February that during the January 2022 dinner she accepted a $5,000 check from Cullen's friend, Solidum, and a $5,000 check from Solidum's daughter. The checks were dated Jan. 20, 2022, and Jan. 21, 2022.

Luke said she returned the checks to Solidum on March 25, 2022, after the guilty pleas by Cullen and English and after she realized that Solidum and Choy were friends.

She acknowledged failing to reflect the original campaign contributions in her Campaign Spending Commission financial disclosure documents, but did update her reports this February, three years later, calling it a "clerical oversight" by her campaign. The commission continues to investigate whether the failure to initially report the donations violated state law.

As the Attorney General's investigation continued, Green -- president of the Council of State Governments -- canceled a trade mission visit to London, and an appearance in Washington, D.C., to attend the National Governors Association meeting, where Green hoped to meet with White House officials, including the secretaries of energy and education.

He also canceled plans in Los Angeles to have "necessary conversations with other national leaders on Medicaid and health care" and to make an East Coast visit to see family, including his daughter, who's away at college.

"Each time as we got close to a trip, something big was always coming up with this investigation and I just thought, 'I can't go'" Green said.

Whenever he leaves the state, the lieutenant governor serves as acting governor and, sometimes, "big decisions have to get made," Green said.

Luke filled in for Green on Aug. 8, 2023, when wildfires raced through West Maui, killing 102 people and led Luke to issue the first emergency proclamation in response.

Now that Green has named state Comptroller Keith Regan as acting lieutenant governor, Green hopes Luke can focus on her legal challenges and he can focus on other important issues for Hawaii and its people.

"I just feel a sense of relief because now we can move forward," Green said. "There are big issues for us to face: The (storm) recovery, the military leases, budget, the taxes that we pay. I mean these are huge things that the people of Hawaii need good leadership on.

"It was getting harder and harder as this investigation seemed to be getting closer to something serious," he said. "And you also just don't like to see everyone on edge and that was also the case. So now the lieutenant governor can go and work on this. And I really wish everyone has the ability to get closure on this because it's good for our state if that happens."