Posted on: Saturday, December 14, 2002

Cayetano defends his order on hiring

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

Former Gov. Ben Cayetano said he had good intentions in issuing an executive order giving political appointees and other non-civil servants the same advantages as civil servants when seeking new government jobs.

Gov. Linda Lingle rescinded the order Thursday, a move Cayetano called a mistake.

"Cries of politics are a red herring," Cayetano said in an e-mail to The Advertiser yesterday, responding to criticism that he was seeking to help political cronies. "Few, if any, of my so-called political appointees have taken advantage of the change."

He added that the executive order did not apply to Cabinet members or to non-civil servants in the governor's office, lieutenant governor's office, Department of Education and University of Hawai'i.

Lingle, who said she had agreed to the former governor's request to hear him out on the issue, said there was a clear difference of opinion on the issue.

The executive order, signed by Cayetano on Nov. 13, allowed non-civil servants the opportunity to apply for civil service openings before they are advertised publicly, an advantage previously given only to civil servants.

The executive order also allowed appointees and other non-civil servants to retain their salaries, if higher, when they took civil service jobs.

On Thursday, Lingle's chief of staff, Bob Awana, issued a memorandum instructing agency chiefs: "Until further notice, please continue prior practices in filling approved vacancies." The administration also said recent hires would be reviewed.

Cayetano said about 2,000 of the state's 46,000 full-time employees are exempt "because they do not fit normal civil service categories."

The former governor said he worked with the Hawai'i Government Employees Association "to subject exempt employees to the same restrictions as civil service employees." As a result, he said, he believed it was fair to issue the executive order to "give those exempt employees the same opportunity to compete for position openings."

About 1,000 of the 2,000 exempt employees are HGEA members, Cayetano noted. "I can only assume that the HGEA leadership is receiving and bowing to complaints from their civil servant members who overwhelmingly outnumber the exempt members," he said.

Randy Perreira, HGEA deputy executive director, stood by his union's support of Lingle's move.

Perreira yesterday said Cayetano's argument "is combining two different issues into one." The union has been negotiating with the administration on establishing the rights for bargaining unit employees who have been exempt from civil service laws in the past but are gradually being converted into civil service status.

Perreira said the timing of Cayetano's executive order, issued weeks before he left office, indicates that it was done to help those not in civil service.

Lingle said yesterday that she had yet to speak to Cayetano but that "he has a particular point of view and mine is different."

Lingle said she is particularly opposed to a person being paid more than a civil servant for doing the same job. "From the public's point of view, that's just not a good use of public money," she said. "To me, and I think to a majority of the public, it's not right to pay someone $80,000 to be in a $50,000-a-year job. It's not fair to the other workers — it's not fair to the taxpayers."