Posted on: Friday, June 28, 2002

Lingle, Cayetano dispute aquarium tax-break benefit

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

Political sniping in the race for governor is heating up even though the two people firing the shots are not even running against each other.

Republican gubernatorial front-runner Linda Lingle and lame-duck Gov. Ben Cayetano are exchanging heated remarks over a controversial tax credit vetoed by Cayetano this week and over a campaign radio ad by Lingle.

Cayetano beat Lingle by about 5,000 votes in 1998 and is not running for any political office.

Lingle on Tuesday criticized Cayetano's veto of a bill that would have given a $75 million tax break for an aquarium project at the Ko Olina resort, calling it "a decision that will be long remembered as a missed opportunity and an example of why Hawai'i had the highest rate increase in the nation of people living in poverty."

Lingle cited 2000 U.S. Census statistics finding that the percentage of people in Hawai'i living in poverty increased from 8.3 to 10.7 percent. She said the Ko Olina tax credit would have helped create more jobs.

On Wednesday Cayetano shot back: "Linda Lingle and many Republicans would have Hawai'i's people believe that they are among the poorest, least educated persons in our nation. Though the facts say otherwise, she and others in the GOP put Hawai'i's people down purely to further their own political futures."

Cayetano repeated that he vetoed the measure because he believed the $75 million tax break would mean taxpayers would shoulder the burden for a specific developer and that the state already offers a 10 percent tax credit to all developers for such projects.

Cayetano also pointed out that Hawai'i's poverty rate is less than the national average.

But the governor also took shots at Lingle's recent radio campaign ad for governor, which targets him.

In the ad, Lingle says Cayetano has said the election is about retaining political power but that she believes it is about new opportunities for the state, improving schools and stopping corruption.

Cayetano on Wednesday said: "Apparently, Lingle still hasn't gotten over her loss to me in 1998 — but I'm not running for any office. She lost to me because the voters found out that while she was quick to criticize, she had no plan and no vision for Hawai'i's future. Apparently, she still doesn't have one because she is still trying to run against me and not her Democratic opponents."

Lingle earlier said she targeted Cayetano in the ad because "he inserted himself so much into the race early on, as if he was a candidate in fact, and since he's made such a point of it I think it's logical to point out that he's focused on the wrong things. And he is the leader of his party."