 a very special guest this afternoon, Governor David E. Gay, who is just about to complete eight years as the governor of the state of Hawaii. And I thought this would be a great chance to talk to him about the journey. And what I refer to as the E. Gay year. So welcome, Governor. It's appreciated your presence this afternoon. People out there really want to know what it was like to be governor. So before we do that, do tell us a little bit about yourself, you know, every governor gets into focusing in on what they have to deal with at that moment and what they've done. But they don't necessarily have a chance to tell us a little bit about what it was like growing up in Hawaii. So why don't we start with that, you know? Right, thanks. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Sure, thanks, the governor. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to talk story with you. I've always enjoyed the conversations that we've had over the years and I truly appreciate, you know, you've been a terrific supporter and mentor on many different issues. And, you know, like we've discussed, there's really no other job like being governor in Hawaii. And I truly appreciated your support and sound advice from time to time as this was necessary. Well, thank you. Thank you. By the way, I instead, more times than one, and maybe I should, that if you're gonna be in politics, the best job in the world, or at least in the country anyway, governor of the state of Hawaii. Yeah. Well, I think the best place to grow up is in the state of Hawaii. So tell us a little bit about growing up in Hawaii. Yeah, sure, John. You know, my family grew up, I grew up in Pro City, which, you know, is in the middle of Oahu. It was sort of the very first community in the transition from agriculture and sugar and pineapples and the plantations to urbanization here on Oahu. So the Pro City Community Association was the very first community association anywhere in the state. Yeah, and, you know, Pro City, and you know, today is sort of the heart of the Democratic Party. It was the heart of working people. You know, I come from a big family. I have five brothers and, you know, we grew up, my parents bought into the very first increment of Pro City above Kamehameha Highway. So prior to that, yeah, it was plantation community and then, you know, they bought into Pro City as like the first increment of the urbanization of Oahu. And so, you know, it was a terrific time, you know, post-war boom and everything. You know, my father's a construction worker. My mom was a nurse, a registered nurse first and then a dental hygienist. But, you know, working class people, they work hard. I have five brothers, six boys. They realized that education really was the key to improving quality of life. And, you know, they sacrificed to make sure that all of us could get a good education. Well, I tell you, you know, what it looked like is that you have this unique experience of sort of being, of seeing the transition of Hawaii and growing up in the transition of Hawaii because, you know, as you know, there was time when anything beyond Kalihi was considered country, you know, if you go west. And then Pro City happened and then you were right in there. But you went to all public schools, I assume, right? Yeah, absolutely, you know, and Pro City Elementary School, which is really at that corner of Kamehameha Highway and Waimanu Home Road, which is the main dragon Pro City, but, you know, all of my older brothers went to Waipahu High School before Pro City was created. And I became, when Pro City High School opened, I was part of the freshman class. So I was part of the very first class at Pro City High School, so. Well, that's fantastic. Yeah, so it's, you know, it's really an interesting time. That was before H1 was built, right? I mean, it was a freeway. Yes, before, and John, it still was country. I mean, we're a Pro City. It still was country. We didn't have the freeways. So getting into town took a long while to go. Getting to the windward side, you know, was more than a half a day to get over there. And, you know, getting around the island, completely around the island really was a full day trip. And you had to make stops or else it was really not bearable. So, you know, it was an exciting time. It was the transition, as you said, you know, from really the plantation era to the beginnings of urbanization and Martin, Hawaii, right? I mean, my father worked on many of the big construction projects. He worked on H1. He worked on the Alamoana building when it was the tallest building in Hawaii, you know? And, you know, he talked about the topping off celebrations and, you know, it was a booming time. You know, we had six kids, so, you know, in a three bedroom house. So there were three. You came with a family already built for a political campaign. You got six. Yes, most definitely. You know, you ended up at the University of Hawaii, right? Yeah, absolutely. And were you in student government when you were? I certainly was. I was in student government at both at Pro City High School as well as when I got to the University of Hawaii. You know, first I was involved with a couple of the Honor Society kind of service clubs, Phi Eta Sigma and Alpha Kappa Delta. And then, you know, I ran for student government and actually that's when I met Don. So we met. Yeah, I was there. So both of you were running for student government or was she campaigning for you? Yeah, no, it was, we were both running. Our joint friend Tim Farr was running for ASUH President and he had organized a party to, he went out and recruited candidates and we formed our own party called Pride. And there were about 15 of us that ran as a collective. You know, we had a logo and, you know, we produced materials, we helped each other campaign and canvas and do all of those kinds of things and we both won, so. Well, congratulations and congratulations for eventually getting married and then getting in here. So, okay, so you get out of college, I can see where your values are being shaped by growing up in Hawaii, the Hawaii that you and I remember and getting active, becoming an activist at the University of Hawaii. What led to your involvement in politics? I mean, how do you get to be government? Well, actually, you know, John, it's not something that I had actually planned for. You know, I, in literally one day and I don't wanna take up all your time today but literally one day on the Thursday after Thanksgiving in 1985, I went from being apolitical and focused on my business career to meeting Governor Ariyoshi and actually getting appointed to the House of Representatives. And, you know, I was promoted three times in four years at Hawaiian Telephone. My goal at that point in time was to be the first local president of Hawaiian Telephone. You know, at that point in time, it was bought out by GTE, you know, they brought in chief executive from the mainland. You know, all of us local people working, you know, really felt there was a glass ceiling that, you know, that we would not be able to attain. And so, you know, I was, that was my goal to be the first local president. But then you end up in the House of Representatives, right? Absolutely, absolutely. And just real quick, just, you know, I meet Jimmy Kumagai, I, you know, I sign up for the party. I wasn't a member of the Democratic party. I meet the governor, you know, he asked, he asked to appoint me. I check with my boss because, you know, I was very focused. And at first my boss said, no, they won't support me. And then the governor calls the president of Hawaiian Telephone, that's the guy's job I wanted. And he said it was okay for me to do it. So, you know, kind of the rest is history. I was appointed and then elected to the House of Representatives for four terms. So nine years in total, I served in the House. And then I ran for the Senate when Eloise Tumpalan retired. And then became a senator, huh? Yeah. So now that's... Sir, 20 years in the Senate. 20 years? Yes, yeah. Oh man. Oh wow, I didn't realize it was that long. But 20 years in the Senate, and then you run for governor and you get elected in 19, no. 2014. Yeah, 2014. So the last eight years you've been serving as governor for a while, you know. It's exciting because I think people now get a sense of what shapes David Igay's thinking and the like, you know. So you're now your governor of the state of Hawaii. I mean, and you, what do you consider your greatest achievement, you know, or what to do? I, you know, it's always hard to kind of put your finger on any specific one. As you know, when you're governor you're dealing with a lot of different things. You know, obviously the biggest challenge and therefore that's why I think it's one of the biggest achievements is really dealing with COVID-19, right? I mean, you know, three years we, you know, we had an infectious disease at the very beginning. We knew very little of it. We had no way to test for it. We had no treatment. And thanks, thank goodness, you know, we are able to develop a vaccine and treatments and two and a half years later we are still dealing with COVID. But, you know, I'm really proud because the Commonwealth Fund had evaluated all of the state in their COVID response and Hawaii ranked number one. And, you know, we are the only state that did not get overwhelmed by COVID and had our hospitals unable to provide services to our community. We're gonna take a short break and we will be right back. If you enjoy watching Think Tech, please consider making a tax deductible gift to keep us going. Just click on the donate button on ThinkTechHawaii.com. Yes, click on the donate button on ThinkTechHawaii.com. Think Tech streaming great content every day on ThinkTechHawaii.com, YouTube and Vimeo. Available on demand on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and other social media and regularly broadcast on Olalo. Think Tech, video with vision, always learning. Thanks so much for your interest and support. Aloha. And thanks so much for being such a good friend of Think Tech and a member of our Think Tech family. Welcome back to Talk Story with John Wahee and our very special guests, Governor David Igay. We are talking about the Igay years and we have just been discussing the fact that Hawaii was ranked as the best in the nation in terms of its response to COVID-19. And as you were saying, we're the only state in the country that didn't experience overwhelming at the hospital facilities and things like that. Yeah, absolutely. John, you know, the national average for states were 50 days in last year. 50 days, the hospitals were overwhelmed in Hawaii was zero. You know, and John, we've talked about before what makes Hawaii special, right? I do think that, you know, we were on calls every week with governors across the country to talk about what was happening. And yeah, I was proud because in Hawaii, when there's an emergency, when there's a disaster, you know, everyone is asking, how can I help, right? People come together, they understand. It's not about personal rights. You know, I have a right to, you know, not wear my mask and be obnoxious. Everyone is asking, how can I help? And I really think it shows in the statistics, you know, and, you know, and everyone, the business community, you know, when we had to make the tough decision to order the quarantine, and we knew that lots of people would be laid off and, you know, the economy would be impacted. You know, we went from the lowest unemployment rate in the country in the end of February to the highest unemployment rate in the country from, you know, less than 3% to 22% unemployed in the course of six weeks. But, you know, the businesses called and worked with us, you know, we, I chose to involve the counties. So I was the only governor meeting with the counties two, three times a week to talk about, you know, what they were seeing, what we think we needed to do. We were talking with the hospitals and the long-term care facilities. So we could understand what was happening there. You know, we were meeting with the business community. I convened the hotels and the visitor industry to talk about the challenges they were facing. And, you know, John, Hawaii is one place that you can gather everyone and you can engage them and you can get input. And, you know, when we make decisions, they were willing to help and implement and be able to respond. I think that's a tremendous advantage living here. But I think what people sometimes when we talk about the COVID response, don't realize that at this point in time, it sounds so mechanical. And yet when it was going on, what you were really dealing with when you talk about statistics and the like was people's lives. Absolutely. That people were actually dying, you know? And it bothers me now when I see some of the people running for office saying, well, you know, especially across the country or wherever, even especially in Hawaii where they're talking about, well, you know, I would have done something different, more like Florida. They don't realize that that difference might have cost lives, I mean, actual people. I mean, that must have weighed on your mind a little bit at least or somewhat. Absolutely, you know, John and you know, we have limited healthcare resources here in the state and in the neighbor islands it's even bigger challenge. So we definitely wanted to, you know, make sure that we could keep our community healthy and safe. So we were pretty aggressive in, you know, applying restrictions and managing the pandemic, you know, doing what the public health experts had recommended because we didn't want our hospitals to get overwhelmed and we knew that if that happened that many, many people would die. You know, it was certainly something that the mayors and I talked about all the time, you know, about recognizing that we want to be proactive because we don't want to get into the situation where our doctors and nurses are having to decide who lives and dies because we can't service everyone who needs help. Well, Governor, I have to tell you something that I, you know, I've been in that chair that you're in and I obviously know a lot of the other people that have been in it, but I don't think any of us faced a challenge as great as the epidemic, a pandemic that was going on. And I think that that's an achievement you should be really proud of. And we in Hawaii ought to be really grateful. But I know that in addition to the pandemic, you also really carved out a niche for yourself in education. Absolutely, you know, I am a proud public school graduate from Pro City High School. And first class, right? Yes, first four-year class. There was a class that went to Waipahu and then came back to Pro City. But, you know, I'm proud to be a public school graduate and really, you know, I talk with many people my age and those in the next generation. And, you know, to me, it's really upsetting when they talk about being failures because their kids didn't get into private school, you know? And, you know, they felt like if their kids were at Highlands Intermediate or Pro City High School or Moana Loa or, you know, any of those schools that they failed their children, you know? And that's not the case, you know? No, we... Well, tell us a little bit about your college program. I mean, that was innovative, you know? That's tremendous. Absolutely, you know? And Keith Hayashi and Leeward Community College were really critical in just noticing that, you know, our kids, they deserve to be challenged. And so they work through all the details of what courses at high school level can earn college credits and which college courses we can make available to high school students, you know? And John, so it's amazing. I mean, Keith wanted every high school student at Waikahu to take at least one class, you know? Because it's a much better environment. Their peers can help them. You know, he believes every student can go to college if they want to. And this is a way for people that have kids in the public schools to lower the cost of college education, isn't it? Absolutely, you know? And that first, we called them Olympians at Waikahu High School, who were the pilot of early college. But 13 of them, John, graduated with their associate of arts degrees before graduating high school. So they saved their parents at least $20,000, $25,000, even going to UH Manoa, just by the fact that... Yeah, well, that's something that they're now adopting across the whole country. So this is, you know, again, you're right on the cutting edge of achievements. Yeah, absolutely. And every public high school is offering college credits now. So that's great. Fantastic. On every island? Yes, on every island. Wow. You know, well, you know, getting, unfortunately, we don't have as much time as I wish we had. And someday, Governor, I hope you do, like, a much longer broadcast. And so that people can, you know, get a sense of all of this. But also you had a boom a year this past year, so doing things for Native Hawaiians, which I don't think public really appreciates what that means, you know? Well, absolutely. You know, we appropriated $600 million. And Governor, I remember when I was chairing Hawaiian Affairs, when you were governor, and we made that commitment to the Hawaiian homesteading programs 20 years ago. And certainly this past session, $600 million to accelerate development of homesteading. You know, we revised the rules. So we're allowing for subsistence homesteading. So homesteads as little as one acre. And you know, it makes a big difference when we were awarding 10 and 40 acres and 200 acres in some instances. Being able to award leases at one acre really allows us to reach more families and beneficiaries. And then most importantly, you know, I'm proud that we were able to settle the Kalima case. You know, it was something that divided our department from beneficiaries and, you know, trying to argue, you know, we didn't want to delay and not provide homesteads. But, you know, I'm glad after decades of fighting it out in courts, we were able to settle and provide us a fair settlement for Native Hawaiians who, I think we all agree, spent too many years on the wait list. Well, I tell you, all together in Native Hawaiian programs got something on over a billion dollars with the settlement and the Hawaiian homes. I think that's fantastic. We got a couple of minutes left. What happens now, Governor? I mean, in December, you're going to pass the mantle over to a new governor. And what happens to Governor Ike and his family? By the way, you have a fantastic family. I wish we had time to talk about them. But I've met all your children there. Incredible. Yeah, thanks. You know, we're just racing to the end, Governor. You know, it's just trying to finish off the one or two or 10 things before the end of your term. Yeah, and then Don and I are going to take a vacation. We haven't really decided where yet, but we'll probably take the first extended vacation. We didn't take a vacation at all this second term. You know, and then we're going to assert through our options. You know, we definitely are not going to retire. We'll be engaged in some way. You know, Don is still an advocate for literacy and other feeding children and those kinds of things. And, you know, I love the technology of today and so many things are able to be done because of technology and really trying to help our communities be able to... Well, I wanted to say one thing, you know, I'll put Don, you know, as the first lady for Spouse of Hawaii. I mean, she's her program stuff to make sure that kids get a healthy meal to start off the day. It's really fantastic. And I was so surprised when I learned, well, I'm not surprised. And with admiration that she got to me in some kind of hall of fame, people have done something for helping young people. And the Grab and Go program. Yeah, she's been a terrific advocate, you know, for ensuring and, you know, she saw it in the classroom, you know, when kids didn't get dinner last night and they come to school and did not have breakfast, it impacts their attention and their ability to learn. So she really has been a strong advocate for making sure that kids can eat. You know, just in today's communities, it just shouldn't be that our children are not able to eat healthy breakfasts and healthy meals. Well, that's why, you know, it's interesting is that my wife is still trying to get me to eat healthy meals, but I know what you're talking about. But anyway, Governor, I wish we had more time. I'd love to do this again. Maybe after you come back from your vacation, we'll see what David Igay is gonna do in the future. So thank you so much for being with us this afternoon. Yeah, Aloha. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Aloha Governor, thank you.