Page 16 - MidWeek - March 8, 2023

16 MIDWEEK MARCH 8, 2023
ConnorsGuidedBy HerDesireToServe
FROM PAGE 13
Although they separately left the mission and eventu- ally started a family together, they stayed with the church — not because they were blind to its faults, she says, but because they still believed in it as a place they could worship, serve and advance positive change. Connors and her late father were lectors at St. Anthony of Padua Catho- lic Church in Kailua.
that had a direct impact on everyday life.
The eldest of four children, she remembers a childhood spent outdoors, but also in service.
“(I told him) ‘I need you to know that what I’ m do- ing here now as the state’s chief law enforcement offi- cer reminds me more of the work you and I did on behalf of the parks department for New York City because it’s all about making sure gov- ernment works,’” recalls Connors.
(Above) Connors (left) and her mother, Betsy Connors, at a Lani- Kailua Outdoor Circle Event. (Right) Connors is dressed as Outdoor Circle Mascot Mr. Mynah and her mother is dressed as Auntie Litter, another Outdoor Circle figure, at a Kailua Town event in the early 2000s. PHOTOS COURTESY BETSY CONNORS
“We wouldn’t just go hike, we’ d go work with the Si- erra Club to build a trail,” she says. “Those were very much the ideals that weren’t preached to us (by our par- ents) but that we just saw in action, in their way of being. That was probably instilled in me at a young age.”
“I went into that job right out of college,” she contin- ues. “And I got this sense of, ‘Wow, government can work,
W
attorney general spot in 2019, she left a lucrative position in private practice to return to public service after her nom- ination was approved by the state Senate.
After she became Ha- wai‘i’s attorney general in 2019, Connors reached out to her former boss, the late first deputy commissioner of NYC Parks & Recreation Alan Moss.
We wouldn’t just go hike, we’d work with the Sierra Club to build a trail. Those were very much the ideals that weren’t preached to us (by our parents) but that we just saw in action, in their way of being.
Her mother, now 80, still volunteers at the Women’s Community Correctional Center, helping inmates raise Wlettuce for the Outdoor Cir- cle’s Learning to Grow hy- droponics program.
an, did. The pair have been Hmarried for nearly 20 years. They have a daughter and a son, both teenagers.
putting herself out there.
“It was a great experience to walk into those halls of the first branch of govern- ment, the Senate, and have the opportunity to talk about why I thought I would be an effective member of the Ju- diciary,” Connors says. “I made it out of committee so it was nothing to do with my qualifications, there was nothing else I could have
hen former Gov. David Ige tapped her for the state
hat set Connors on the path to a law degree was her
Barack Obama nominated her for a position on the same federal court where she’ d clerked for Ezra.
“When I came to the at- torney general job, I early on recognized the lawyer stuff I’d done for years,” she says. “I’ d been a criminal prose- cutor, a civil litigator, I’ d ar- gued a lot of cases, I’d been in court, argued appeals — so the law stuff I could do. But the things that were of interest to me were all of these insti- tutional system challenges.”
er life took another turn in 2015, when former President
three-year stint as operations coordinator for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
and if you put good people in government, people who have this synergy and this commitment to things, ev- erything will run better.’ So, I didn’t go to law school to be a litigator, I didn’t go to law school to be a prosecu- tor, I went to law school to find out how our systems of governance work.”
District of Hawai‘i, and met her husband-to-be at an Out- door Circle event her mother helped organize.
By this point, she’ d been a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, spe- cializing in tax fraud, and a member of DOJ’s Honors Program, working on vio- lent crimes and immigra- tion cases. She’ d also been an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Hawai‘i and had several years of civil lit- igation experience in private practice.
done.
“The opportunities I have
Fresh out of Yale Universi- ty, she was making sure trash pickups ran on schedule, parks and dog runs opened on time, and the approximately 66 indoor pools and 13 miles of beachfront — including Rockaway Beach and Coney Island — had approved safety plans.
“I think I landed in Ha- wai‘i on a Friday and on Saturday (my mom) said, ‘We’re going to this event.’ I said, ‘What event?’”
had since then have been wonderful, ones I could never have imagined when I decided to put my name in to be a federal judge.”
She was only 22 years old and getting a taste of what it was like to make decisions for a complex organization
Young and motivated — and now armed with a J.D. from Harvard Law School — she planned to return to the parks department.
It turned out to be a Hunks for Trunks fundraiser and she won the bid for an eli- gible bachelor and Kalāheo High School alum who was offering flying lessons in a small plane.
She made it through the U.S. Senate Judiciary Com- mittee hearing, but the full Senate never voted on her nomination. Still, she claims to having no regrets about
While she didn’t get to don the traditional black robe, she found plenty to keep her busy at the private law offices of Davis Levin Livingston, where she han- dled medical malpractice, personal injury, insurance and civil rights cases, among other things.
As attorney general, she set about establishing a structure to examine complex issues. The AG’s Special Investi- gations Prosecutions Unit — which includes a human trafficking component — and Complex Litigation and Fraud
Instead, she got a clerk- ship with Judge David Ezra of the U.S. District Court,
The flying lessons didn’t stick, but the pilot, a Hawai‘i Air National Guard veter-
SEE PAGE 17