GOP rival labels Hawaii governor 'Doomsday David' after false alarm fiasco

Hawaii Gov. David Ige is seen in Honolulu, Jan. 9, 2018. (Associated Press)

A Hawaii GOP gubernatorial candidate has labeled Democratic incumbent Gov. David Ige "Doomsday David" and called on him to resign over the state's recent false alarm fiasco.

Republican John Carroll said this week that the public lost faith in Ige because of an erroneous missile alert Jan. 13 that had Hawaii residents fearing for their lives for nearly 40 minutes.

“Doomsday David Ige has got to go now,” Carroll said, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

After the mistake made headlines around the world, Ige apologized, saying an unnamed employee of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency had mistakenly sent the missile threat alert to cell phones and other devices throughout the state, the Star-Advertiser reported.

The false alert took 38 minutes to correct, with Ige taking 15 minutes to announce the alarm was false, according to the Hawaii National Guard's top commander.

The employee responsible has since been reassigned, and Ige has called for changes to the way the state handles legitimate alerts and false alarms.

But despite Carroll's sharp criticism, Glenna Wong, communications director for Ige’s reelection campaign, told the Star-Advertiser that Ige has no intentions of resigning.

“He is our governor. He has taken steps to fix and improve HI-EMA, and the best person for the job is already on the job,” Wong said.

Caroll, 88, is a longtime Republican who announced his campaign for governor this year and served in the state House and Senate in the 1970s, according to the newspaper. In 2002 and 2010, he staged unsuccessful campaigns for governor.

Public records from the state Supreme Court show that he requested to be allowed to resign from his law practice last year rather than face disciplinary action over alleged attorney misconduct, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.

The candidate, who describes himself as a retired lawyer, bases his campaigns on “fiscally conservative ideals,” he told the Honolulu Civil Beat in 2016 during his campaign for U.S. Senate.