NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A congressman who ran on a promise of giving constituents full-time representation has been absent from the Capitol for most of this year, according to a new report.
Rep. Kai Kahele, D-Hawaii, has rarely showed up for work in Washington D.C. this year, only casting five votes in person over the course of three days in January, according to an analysis from the Honolulu Civil Beat.
Rep.-elect Kai Kahele, D-Hawaii, is a pilot in the military as well as for Hawaiian Airlines. “I’ve always had the ability to bring people together,” Kahele said. “In times of crisis, I function at my most optimum in a high-stress situation.”
(Courtesy of Kai Kahele for Congress)
The rest of his 120 votes were cast by proxy, which means a colleague voted on his behalf while he stayed back in Hawaii.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has permitted a proxy voting since the start of the pandemic, whereas in-person voting is still required in the Senate.
KAI KAHELE, COMBAT VETERAN, SAYS TRUMP SUPPORTERS ARE ‘A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH’
Kahele, a combat veteran, apparently never gave up his job as a Hawaiian Airlines pilot where according to the Civil Beat he earned $120,000 in 2020, the year he was elected to Congress. His salary as a member of congress is $174,000.
His failure to show up for work in Congress has coincided with Kahele reportedly mulling a run for governor in 2022, though he has not made any formal announcement.
NANCY PELOSI’S FAMILY MEMBER LANDS SENIOR ADVISER POSITION AT DEPT. OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
Neither Kahele nor his spokesperson responded to Fox News’ requests for comments on Tuesday.
Rep.-elect Kai Kahele of Hawaii’s Second Congressional District arrives in Washington for congressional orientation in November 2020. (Marisa Schultz/Fox News)
(Marisa Schultz/Fox News)
His absence from Washington is a sharp turn for Kahele who entered Congress in 2021 with stated intentions of moving his wife and three daughters to D.C. to avoid the grueling 13-hour commute every week from his hometown of Hilo.
During an interview with Fox News during freshman orientation in late 2020, Kahele said he envisioned hosting barbecues, going to church and playing baseball with fellow lawmakers in the hope that friendships can give way to bipartisanship.
PELOSI TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19
“I’ve always had the ability to bring people together,” Kahele said of his intentions of building relationships in D.C.
The freshman lawmaker succeeded Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, in Congress. He was a state senator when he announced he’d primary challenge the popular Gabbard just after she announced her 2020 presidential run. Kahele said the people of Hawaii needed full-time representation.
Kai Kahele, D-Hawaii, with his wife Maria and their three daughters.
(Courtesy of Kai Kahele for Congress)
Kahele has voted by proxy more than most of his House colleagues this year, according ot the Civil Beat, being absent for all but five votes. The most absent members of Congress were Democratic Reps. Albio Sires of New Jersey, Lucille Roybal-Allard of California and Al Lawson of Florida, who have missed every vote in the House in 2022.
Kahele made history in 2020 as just the second Native Hawaiian elected to Congress to represent the Aloha State since it became the 50th state in 1959. He’s a former state senator and military pilot combat veteran. He’s a progressive who supports the Green New Deal and “Medicare-for-all.”
