For Cynthia Thielen, Decades Of Public Service Are 'Just The Right Thing To Do'
The former longtime legislator, attorney and community activist is still deeply involved in her community.
January 4, 2026 · 8 min read
About the Author
A little thing like age has never stopped Cynthia Thielen.
Whether she was a young mother in Lanikai trying to make the streets safer so the neighborhood kids could bike to school unharmed or a 92-year-old member of the Hawaiʻi State Ethics Commission drafting a new bill to combat pay-to-play politics, Thielen has been trying to make a difference her whole life.
“I was active in high school, active in college and then there was always a thing,” she says. “And I’ve never looked at age as a reason to stop that activity. And I’ve been very lucky in my health and mental capacity.”
For much of the last century, Thielen has been one of the most active and engaged women in Hawaiʻi. She is arguably the poster child of public service through the decades.
She started a birthday book program at the Lanikai library. Launched a show-and-tell at the Honolulu Zoo.
When her kids were young and the narrow roads in Lanikai nearly caused some bad accidents, she led a group that succeeded in getting the streets changed to a one-way loop and Hawaiʻi’s second bikeway installed. It now bears her name.
Thielen dropped out of Stanford University after a year but not before she’d made a friend for life in her roommate, the late Dianne Feinstein, who remained a close friend and political confidant until Feinstein’s death a few years ago.
Once her young family was well along its way, Thielen went back to school, graduating from the University of Hawaiʻi and then the UH law school in her 40s. An environmental lawyer, she landed a job with the Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana. Ten days after she was sworn into practice, Thielen won a federal court decision to allow the group’s members to return to the island, which had been used for bombing and military exercises by the U.S. military.
One day she heard one of Gov. George Aryoshi’s top aides say women couldn’t serve on boards and commissions because they just didn’t have the right frame of mind. So she led a sit-in at the governor’s office. He appointed her to the highway safety commission.
Her law practice and activist mindset led her to work with clients in need of legal aid. And then she got involved in the Stop H-3 movement, which kept her busy for another 12 years.
A pro-choice Republican — she likes to say she’s an Eisenhower Republican — Thielen was elected to the Legislature in 1990. She championed women and environmental issues and was known for her ability to work across the aisle. In fact, she’s one of the few minority lawmakers who was able to push through her own bills, including perhaps most famously a measure in 1999 that brought hemp production back in Hawaiʻi.
After 30 years, Thielen decided not to run for reelection in 2020. She was 86 years old.
“So when I finished, I was in my 80s, and I thought, you know, I don’t want to stop participating and helping in ways that I can,” Thielen says. “So I put my name in for the Ethics Commission.”
She was 90 years old and talked about the job with Gov. Josh Green, who she ran into at a Fourth of July parade. He wanted to make sure that as a Republican she wouldn’t hesitate to be tough on GOP scofflaws who were in trouble with the commission and she assured him: “I am very independent.”
“I think he was just talking to me to make sure my mind was OK.”
Now she’s into her second year of a four-year term and is still trying to fix things. A few months ago she presented the commission with a proposal for legislation that would prohibit high-ranking state officials — of the level that need to be appointed by the governor and approved by the Senate — from hosting fundraisers for political candidates.
She’d read the Civil Beat/New York Times reporting that disclosed how a top state official regularly hosted campaign fundraisers where state contractors and others with business before the state would hand over cash and checks.
“I was utterly shocked that a high-ranking department official could facilitate this event where developers brought in bags filled with cash to give to the legislators who were at the event.”
She says it was “the most unethical thing I’ve ever seen.”
Still, she describes her recent effort to get the legislation in the works “like pushing a boulder uphill.”
Selling it to the commission was not too bad — in November, the full panel voted to submit Thielen’s proposal to the Legislature as part of its 2026 bill package — but beyond that all bets are off in today’s political climate. She’s been reminded recently, she says, that there are people in positions of power who don’t want these kinds of restrictions and will likely fight it all the way even though the impact is actually limited.
“It’s a very small group that is, No. 1, appointed by the governor and then confirmed by the Senate, a very small group,” she notes. “And if you’re in that elite group, you have to recognize part of the privilege of being in that elite group is that there are going to be ethical restrictions on you getting involved in fundraising. We’re talking about people with a great deal of power and influence, and that’s power over approving contracts sought by these developers.”
Thielen makes it a point to attend Ethics Commission meetings in person as much as possible. No Zooming in as some public board and commission members regularly do, taking advantage of Covid-era technological improvements that made remote meetings commonplace in Hawaiʻi.
She exercises faithfully every morning for an hour and makes it a point to walk regularly. Having a dog that needs the workout helps. And she stays active with her kids and grandkids (her granddaughter Natalie Thielen Helper is Civil Beat’s institutional giving manager and the two have lunch every week.)
She reads numerous news sites every day, including The New York Times, the BBC and The Guardian (although Thielen says she cancelled her Washington Post subscription a few months ago when Post management started meddling with the news coverage ostensibly in fear of Dondal Trump.)
She’s extremely excited about her Wordle score which is holding steady at 98%.
But what motivates someone to plant themselves in the middle of — often even at the front of — public affairs and political causes that sometimes aren’t the most popular?
“It’s just the right thing to do,” Thielen says. “We need to have a better government. Certainly, in today’s era, we need to develop some trust in government, and the way that you do that is that you make sure that people feel that things are running on the up and up, that they’re not filled with graft.
“So it’s important, I think, to step forward and continue doing that. And just becoming older is not an excuse for not doing it.”
Thielen’s been involved in the community so long it’s become part of her DNA. But she recognizes it might not be so easy for others to step up, especially today as politics have become so divisive and mean-spirited.
“Sometimes it can be really intimidating, and I always think it helps if you get a small group to begin with that have a similar goal, whether it’s a safe way to get our children to school, whether it’s stopping development on Mount Olomana, whether it’s preventing the second Liberty House being placed in the Kawainui Marsh, you know all these different things. And pulling together I think you develop energy and support as you move ahead with the group and being willing to let others take the lead and helping, and then sometimes taking the lead yourself, and sometimes going off solo, all on your own.”
You get your toe in, she says, and the next one becomes easier. And the one after that is even easier.
“The thing is to have our community, our people and our lives be happy. It’s all so important, and fighting back against just the horrible news and bigotry and hatred and all of that. Just fight back against that and wake up with a smile and try to make our lives be happy.”
Civil Beat’s reporting on women’s and girls’ issues is funded in part by the Frost Family Foundation.
Tell us about a government program or service you think is working well. We’re also interested in people, especially public employees, who deserve to be celebrated for their service or their contributions to making Hawaiʻi a better place. Send to sunshine@civilbeat.org and include Bright Spots in the subject line please!
Sign up for our FREE morning newsletter and face each day more informed.
Local reporting when you need it most
Support timely, accurate, independent journalism.
Honolulu Civil Beat is a nonprofit organization, and your donation helps us produce local reporting that serves all of Hawaii.
ContributeAbout the Author