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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Monday, January 14, 2002

GOP economy plan targets state government

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

State Republicans said yesterday that they know how to fix Hawai'i's sagging economy and high unemployment statistics.

Scaling back government is the answer, said Galen Fox, House minority leader: The savings from the resultant lack of waste could then be returned to residents in the form of tax reductions.

New jobs would be added to the nongovernmental sector through the privatization of services once inefficiently provided by state bureaucrats, the Republicans said.

The message may not be a new one, but Fox, R-21st (Waikiki/Ala Wai), and the half-dozen House Republicans who accompanied him to an informal press conference at the statehouse were passionate yesterday as they reiterated it.

Decentralization of the state school district is the obvious place to start in revamping government, said Guy Ontai, R-39th (Wheeler, Mililani). The state superintendent's job would be limited to dividing up the state's pool of education money and distributing it to local school boards.

Local school representatives, working closely with school administrators in their districts, could allocate money more effectively and be more easily held accountable, he said.

Charles Djou, R-47th (Kahalu'u/Kane'ohe), said tax reductions are another obvious way to infuse cash into the economy.

"We need to eliminate the general excise tax on food, residential rents and medical services," he said.

The House Republicans, including Mindy Jaffe, R-19th (Waikiki/Kaimuki/Diamond Head); Mark Moses, R-42nd (Kapolei/Ewa Village/Village Park), Barbara Marumoto, R-17th (Kahala/ Wai'alae Iki), and Jim Rath, R-6th (N. Kona/S. Kohala), said their 2002 legislative agenda includes means to protect families from sexual predators, a call for a privately operated drug treatment/correctional facility, and environmental protection and campaign spending reforms.