As Sylvia Luke takes a leave of absence after receiving a target letter in a bribery investigation, Hawaiʻi welcomes a new acting lieutenant governor.
Keith Regan, Hawaiʻi’s state comptroller, was sixth in the line of succession according to state law, and he is now filling in the seat until elections take place later this year.
A similar scenario took place in 2018 when state Attorney General Doug Chin was called upon to take up the role when then-Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui stepped down for personal reasons.
Chin joined HPR to reflect on his time as Lt. Governor and to offered his thoughts and explanations around the latest developments involving Sylvia Luke.
Interview Highlights
On his experience with the line of succession
DOUG CHIN: It was surprising. I didn't know Lt. Gov. Tsutsui well at all but when he made the decision to step down early, it didn't even occur to me that we were going to get to me. Like in other words, there's some other positions that are in between. But I think what I didn't bank on is that for many people, and I think even myself as well, it's hard to just walk away from the job that you have at the time and even the staff that you have underneath you and then go into a completely new office. So I can understand why for so many times when the opportunity gets offered to, for example, Senate president or the speaker of the House, they'll turn it down because they’re in the middle of the Legislature. They do other things, and they realize that that will create other dominoes that have to be figured out.
On Keith Regan, acting lieutenant governor
CHIN: And that's where (the governor) landed on Keith Reagan, who I knew from when he was the managing director of the County of Maui and I was in the County of Honolulu. And he's great. I think one of the good things for people to know is that whenever these types of successions happen, I think everybody who's not in the state should just know that the state is well run, meaning that there's great workers that are there all the time that know the infrastructure, know what needs to be done, and they're there to support whoever is taking whoever's walking into that position.
On the target letter to Sylvia Luke
CHIN: Getting the target letter is, I don't want to say it's what always happens, but it is definitely a construct of the federal law enforcement system where, before they even bring charges and indict somebody, there's an initial target letter which is written to the individual saying here are the potential charges that you might be facing, there's substantial evidence that could be brought against you. There's often an invitation to meet with law enforcement to try to explain their position. It puts the individual who is receiving the target letter on notice that this is happening, so that they can, in fairness, present a defense, or find a lawyer, put together a legal team if they need to do something like that. I have to say this: I've never seen it happen at the state or county level. That doesn't mean that state prosecutors like the attorney general or county prosecutors can't do something like that. It's just not part of the state and local system, if you will. There's no requirement. It is unusual. Not wrong to do it, but it is unusual.
This story aired on The Conversation on April 24, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
