On Kaua’i yesterday, Republican Linda Lingle said that if she’s elected governor, she won’t cut jobs to reduce the size of government and will support island-based school boards to improve public education. Lingle also said she would set up advisory
On Kaua’i yesterday, Republican Linda Lingle said that if she’s elected governor, she won’t cut jobs to reduce the size of government and will support island-based school boards to improve public education.
Lingle also said she would set up advisory committees to keep her informed of island issues.
Lingle made those pronouncements during a news conference at Radisson Kaua’i Beach Resort, where members of her Kaua’i campaign team – Lingle’s first in the state – were introduced.
They include co-chairmen Maryanne Kusaka, the mayor of Kaua’i County; Charlie King, owner of King Auto Center; Allan smith, chief operating officer with Grove Farm Co.; and Edwin Navarro, an electrical inspector for the county.
Lingle, who lost to Governor Ben Cayetano in 1998 in her last run for the office, said she would create an “uproar” during the first days of her administration if she cut government jobs.
The deployment of employees is a better way of achieving more efficiency in government, Lingle said.
Along with Kusaka, Lingle said the decentralization of the state’s Board of Education would improve the quality of public schools in Hawai’i.
Local school boards, added Kusaka, who was once a teacher at Kapa’a Elementary School, would encourage more parents to take part in their children’s education and could float bonds that could improve the quality of Kaua’i schools.
On charter schools, of which there are 200 statewide, Lingle said she “doesn’t understand the antagonism” toward them by the public school system.
Lingle characterized charter schools as an attempt by parents “to go in a different direction, and they should be supported.”
To help Hawai’i businesses, government should cut red tape, Lingle said. Businesses don’t want government regulations to be so intrusive that they “can’t expand,” she said.
Lingle also said:
– She supports eliminating the duplication of services of state and county governments.
– As a way to keep on top of issues outside of Oahu, she would set up advisory committees on each island. The committees could tell her the “best people” available to serve on government boards and commissions.
– The current Democrats-led government is “not close enough to the people” to find out how to address issues facing communities.
– Her administration would welcome input before any state-backed public improvement projects like roads, waterlines and bridges are built, unlike now, when decisions on projects are made by people who are not from the islands where the projects are developed.
– So that Hawaiian beneficiaries are better served, the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs should be incorporated into a private trust.
Of her campaign team, Lingle said she felt “very fortunate to have such outstanding people.”
Kusaka said she supports Lingle because she is willing to make dramatic changes to make Hawai’i a better place to live.
“Linda is a leader who is willing to make these changes and effectuate a system, one that we all can be proud of,” Kusaka said.
Of her own political ambitions, Kusaka said, “No plans right now to run. I am leaving the options open. I have lots of energy and am in good health.”
Kusaka’s two-term tenure as mayor ends this year. Should she run for public office again, Kusaka said she would go “for something local, statewide if something comes up.”
Smith, who wants smaller government, said Lingle advocates matching the size of “government to the economy.”
Smith is a trustee of Queen’s Medical Center, Queen’s Health Systems and Queen’s Development Corp., past director of the Hawai’i Agribusiness Development Corporation and a current member of the Kaua’i Economic Development Board.
King said Lingle has “honesty, integrity, a vision and ability to get people to follow that vision, and fiscal responsibility.”
King is president of the Hawai’i Auto Dealers Association and is involved in junior golf organizations.
Navarro said he supports Lingle, mayor of Maui for eight years before she ran for governor in1998, because of her leadership and record of public service.
Navarro said Lingle might be able to create the kind of jobs that will help encourage Hawai’i’s young people to stay home. Many move to the mainland for better job opportunities, he noted.
Lingle said 100,000 people moved from Hawai’i to the mainland in the 1990s.
Navarro is the past president of Kaua’i Filipino Community Council and currently serves as the executive vice president of the United Filipino Council of Hawai’i.
A fund-raiser for Lingle is scheduled at the Radisson on Feb. 10.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
