Duke Aiona

Duke Aiona
10th Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii
In office December 4, 2002 – December 6, 2010
Governor	Linda Lingle
Preceded by	Mazie Hirono
Succeeded by	Brian Schatz
Personal details
Born	June 8, 1955 Pearl City, Hawaii, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Vivian Aiona
Alma mater	University of the Pacific University of Hawaii, Manoa

James R. "Duke" Aiona, Jr. (born June 8, 1955), is an American Republican politician who served as the tenth Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii from 2002 to 2010. He is of Hawaiian, Chinese, and Portuguese descent. Prior to his election to the office in 2002, he served both as an attorney and a judge for the state.

Aiona was the Republican nominee for Governor of Hawaii in the 2010 election, but was defeated by Democrat Neil Abercrombie in the general election. He was the Republican nominee once again in the 2014 election, but lost to Democrat David Ige.

Background

James Aiona was born in Pearl City, Hawaiʻi. He attended Saint Louis School, a local academy of the Diocese of Honolulu. Upon graduating high school, Aiona pursued a bachelor of arts degree in political science, which he received from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California in 1977. Aiona returned to Hawaiʻi and graduated from the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 1981.

In 1977, while attending law school, he met Vivian Welsh at a dance in Waikīkī. They married in 1981. They have two sons, Kulia and Makana; and two daughters, Ohulani and Kaimilani.

He began his legal career at the City and County of Honolulu as a deputy prosecutor, and was appointed to the Hawaiʻi State Judiciary in 1990 as a Family Court judge. In 1996, while serving as Circuit Court judge, Aiona became the first administrative judge and primary architect of the Drug Court Program in Hawaiʻi. The program gives non-violent offenders a chance to stay out of prison through active and effective drug rehabilitation. Under his leadership, 85 percent of offenders stayed in the program and out of prison.

In his first term as Lt. Governor, Aiona intensified efforts against the problem of illicit drug abuse, including methamphetamine, and underage drinking, which increasingly plagued the state. In 2003, his efforts led to Hawaiʻi's first Drug Control Strategy Summit. This project gathered together government, nonprofit organizations and members of the community to create an all-encompassing strategy that included community mobilization, prevention, treatment and vigorous law enforcement to deal with illegal drug and alcohol use. Production and use of crystal methamphetamine has since been greatly reduced in the state. As Lieutenant Governor, Aiona was paid $117,312 per annum.^[1]

Aiona has served as a member of the advisory council for the Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). He was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2006 to the Advisory Commission on Drug-Free Communities, which advises the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Policy. He is also a co-chair for the Aerospace States Association, a national organization of Lt. Governors whose purpose is to promote aerospace policies relating to education and economic development. Additionally, Aiona is a Co-Chair of Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free, a national leadership coalition that seeks to prevent underage drinking across the nation.

Electoral history

Aiona and Governor Linda Lingle became Hawaii's first Republican administration to win a second term, and they won with the largest margin of victory in any gubernatorial race in the history of the state.^[2] Aiona ran to succeed Lingle as governor in 2010, but lost to Neil Abercrombie; he ran for governor again in 2014, losing to Democrat David Ige.

Hawaii gubernatorial election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Linda Lingle/James Aiona	194,338	51.6
	Democratic	Mazie Hirono/Matt Matsunaga	177,186	47.0

Hawaii gubernatorial election, 2006
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Linda Lingle/James Aiona (incumbent)	215,313	62.5	+10.9
	Democratic	Randy Iwase/Malama Solomon	121,717	35.4

Hawaii gubernatorial election, 2010[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Neil Abercrombie / Brian Schatz	222,724	57.8%
	Republican	James Aiona / Lynn Finnegan	157,311	40.8%
Turnout			380,035	55.7%

See also

• Hawaii gubernatorial election, 2010
• Hawaii gubernatorial election, 2014

References

1. ‘‘The Council of State Governments,’’ “The Book of the States: 2008”
2. http://hawaii.gov/ltgo/lg
3. "Office of Elections" (PDF). hawaii.gov. Retrieved 24 August 2015.

External links

• James Aiona for Governor official campaign site