Aiona on His Garage Clothesline and VW Van

Michael Levine/Civil Beat

How green are the governor candidates?

Civil Beat asked the three leading hopefuls for the state's top job to open their homes so we could compare and contrast their personal environmental practices against their professed policy platforms. Mufi Hannemann, formerly mayor of Honolulu, declined the proposal in its entirety. His Democratic rival, former U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, said no to the request to visit his residence but did answer some of our questions.

Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona went one step further, though not all the way. Last week he agreed to sit down and talk face-to-face. When we met Wednesday, he said he would not let Civil Beat into his home, citing privacy for his family as the reason. Instead, campaign spokesman Travis Taylor showed me some pictures he took of Aiona's potted plants and water filter with his smartphone. Not quite the same as seeing it for yourself.

Aiona has posted his positions on some sustainability questions on his campaign website. He also has a petition to support clean energy.

His clean energy platform promises that he "is committed to realizing the promise of a clean energy future, and he will ensure we do so in an environmentally-friendly way that makes economic sense and moves our state toward greater self-sufficiency."

When Aiona spoke to Civil Beat this week at his Nimitz Highway campaign headquarters, he wove a story about balancing the needs of a family of seven and the desire to attain personal sustainability.

"I'm probably gonna be buried in a van," he said.

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