Four days have passed since Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke announced she would be taking an indefinite unpaid leave of absence.
The decision came at the urging of Gov. Josh Green after she received a target letter from the state Attorney General's office.
Luke is one of at least three people targeted in an ongoing investigation into possible bribery and campaign finance violations.
In light of these developments, HPR took the opportunity to speak with Green, who gave more context behind Luke's stepping down and the decision to name Keith Regan, the state comptroller, as her replacement.
Interview Highlights
On the target letter sent to Lt. Gov. Luke
JOSH GREEN: The nature of getting a target letter meant that it was serious, and that's when I knew I had to speak with the lieutenant governor kind of more formally about what to do. We sat down and had a heart-to-heart conversation (this past Thursday) and discussed what possibilities there were. My opinion is that I should not be judge and jury, but I do have the responsibility to the state to make sure that any decisions we make are above reproach and that we can continue to have enough continuity and trust in any processes that go on once that target letter was out. It really was very difficult for me to continue to have that relationship with the LG, and so I knew that she should take a leave of absence. That's what I decided was the best course. And she agreed, because she can then go work on this with her family and her legal team and find out if they can resolve it. Meanwhile, it gives me the capacity to designate the responsibilities of the lieutenant governor to another person, in this case, Keith Regan, who's well known, already vetted by the Senate. That's why we picked him, among other reasons. He was also in the line of command; if a person leaves office completely, then there's a very clear chain of command that goes, I think (House) speaker, then Senate president, so on. So he would have very likely been the individual anyway.
On how the investigation impacts the upcoming elections
GREEN: It was satisfied the moment that lieutenant governor chose not to run. So that did resolve that particular question, and I was pretty blunt about that along the way, because not only do people have, you know, a finite amount of time to run their campaign and to have the people choose who they think is best. But also, there's a filing deadline, and people have to have some time to decide whether they want to throw their hat in the ring for a state Senate seat or a Congress seat or even the lieutenant governor seat. So that had to be resolved, and that's why I was starting to speak publicly. As I did that, I felt that at the three-month mark, which would have been this Monday, actually this past Monday, I felt something, some threshold, maybe not all the information, but some demarcating line of, is this or isn't this a significant issue about the lieutenant governor, because people otherwise should have a couple weeks to decide if they want to run for lieutenant governor. Derek Kawakami is a very good guy. I have a good relationship with him, and I think he will make a terrific lieutenant governor if he's chosen, and I'm chosen to continue to serve. But it would only be fair to have it resolved fair for Sylvia, fair for other people to consider if they wanted to run.
On the possibility of more officials coming under investigation
GREEN: That’s possible. Frankly, I'm really focused on the executive branch races right now, because the responsibility is so large. Admittedly, some legislative positions have more responsibility than others too. But that was the most important thing all along, I think it was pretty clear that most of the focus was on lieutenant governor. Maybe six weeks ago, there seemed to be some signals that it was no longer a legislator. There had been a couple individuals in my cabinet that had fit the description that they were still in the legislative branch at the time, that meant that they could have been the person that the attorney general was looking at. But once that was pretty clear, I just wanted some clarity so that we could pick, you know, a person in good standing that wouldn't be distracted, so that I'd have a good running mate that could do the job if I ever was unable to do it.
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.
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