Lingle now official as candidate for governor
By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Republican Linda Lingle yesterday officially became a candidate for governor, saying she opposes the state Legislature's move to pass gasoline-price caps, will push for more spending in public-school classrooms and favors more charter schools.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
Lingle, 48, took the oath for her candidacy before about 75 supporters in the lieutenant governor's office. Then she headed to the Capitol courtyard to promise "a renewal for our state, a new beginning for Hawai'i" to a crowd of about 200.
Linda Lingle opposes gas-price controls.
Lingle is the Republican party front-runner. Four years ago, she fell just 5,000 votes short of unseating incumbent Democrat Ben Cayetano. Yesterday, she said she learned lessons from the last race and this time will be different.
"This is not going to be an easy election. It's going to be very, very tough, like the last one," Lingle said. "But there's going to be a major difference between that race and this race: we're going to win this time."
She said she will make education a priority. She said she will work toward having the Legislature pass a law that requires school budgets to have "a high percentage be used in the classroom." She said the move to limit gas prices, regulate health insurance rates and impose a nickel deposit on beverage containers will eventually cause prices to rise.
Lingle further criticized lawmakers for delaying the effective date of the price limits, which she said showed that "those people who voted for these items know that they're bad ideas that won't work but they wanted to pacify the public right now."
One of the mistakes she said she made last time was agreeing to voluntary campaign spending limits, which left her outspent in the waning days before the election. "We'll work hard up until the last second," she said.
