Rep. Colleen Hanabusa‘s campaign team wrote a lengthy apology for an error it made in an electronic birthday card to Sens. Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka. 

On a brightly colored web page that encouraged people to wish the senators a happy 87th, Hanabusa’s campaign wrote that Akaka was the first person of Native Hawaiian ancestry to serve in the U.S. House. 

“That honor actually belongs to Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana’ole, known in Hawai’i as Prince Kuhio, who served as Hawai’i’s elected delegate to Congress from 1903 until 1922,” Hanabusa’s campaign communications director Richard Rapoza wrote. “Dan Akaka is the first Native Hawaiian to serve in the U.S. Senate.”

Hanabusa’s campaign apologized for the error, emphasizing the importance of respecting Hawaii’s history. 

“The last thing we want to do is spread information that isn’t entirely accurate,” Rapoza wrote. “But we also see this as a reminder that it is too easy to focus on what is happening today, and forget the lessons of our past.”