If someone wants to be governor, they have to look at the whole picture. Cayetano had a fair point. Hirono blindsided and embarrassed him by undermining the state's negotiating position in public without first trying to work out her differences with him privately. Imagine if a top official of the HGEA surprised fellow union leaders with a press release urging the union to cave in on the governor's demands. He or she would be strung up.
Collective bargaining is an adversarial process that can get nasty.
The governor must stand up for taxpayers as vigorously as the HGEA fights for its members. If Hirono has no stomach for it, we should worry about how ably the public would be represented at the bargaining table in a Hirono administration. Campaigning against the governor instead of her real opponents is a curious strategy for Hirono. She has done little to separate herself from Cayetano administration policies for the past six years and it's too late to start now. Her opponents will skewer her if she tries.