Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie will announce his pick to replace the late Sen. Daniel Inouye tonight. The governor's office released a statement Wednesday, saying Abercrombie would make the announcement during a new conference at 7 p.m. ET. The Hawaii Democratic Party met Wednesday morning to select three finalists to take the seat left vacant by Inouye's death. Hawaii News Now reported the names on the short list. They included Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, Deputy State Land and Natural Resources Director Esther Kiaaina and Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz. The HDP chastised whoever gave those names to the paper on its Facebook page shortly after the Hawaii News Now article was updated. "Apparently, some of us DO NOT respect the process. The list was leaked to the press. tsk ... tsk ... tsk ...," the post said, linking to the HNN piece. About half an hour earlier, the group had made a post saying it would not announce the names, leaving that responsibility to the governor. The late senator wrote a letter to Abercrombie dated the day he died, asking that he pick Democratic Rep. Colleen Hanabusa to replace him. Hanabusa is a fourth-generation American of Japanese descent, whose grandfathers were held in internment camps during World War II. She served as a state senator from 1998 to 2010, becoming the first female State Senate president in Hawaii in 2007.
No comments:
Post a Comment