Letters to the Editor
Editorial didn't support Lingle endorsement
At least your endorsement of Linda Lingle shows your right-wing critics that you are not ultra-leftists. However, it is not adequately supported by the editorial itself, nor by the platforms on which the candidates are running.
Since when did Hirono's "pro-consumer approach" become dated? Since when was any Republican a friend of the consumer or the little guy? Lingle's proven cronyism is no more ethical than the Democrats we have already removed from power. You even admit Hirono is untainted.
What about Lingle's dismal environmental record? You remain irresponsibly silent on her preference for unrestrained development at the expense of more pollution, less open space and a diminished Hawaiian sense of place.
She does not represent the positive change we need.
Mark McCullough
Change is necessary for state to progress
Hawai'i voters like to complain and are not very effective at doing anything about it. If the last 40 years are any indication, they are uncomfortable with the notion of change. And yet change is a necessary component of progress. Progress is not a bad word or concept and, certainly, no one wants to change the good things about Hawai'i.
However, as the adage goes, "If you keep doing things the same way, you'll keep getting the same results." In Hawai'i, the result of doing things the same way is lack of progress and an infected, inbred state government.
Voters nationwide have wisely decided to change the political party in power at least every eight years. Voters in Hawai'i have not done so for 40 years. It's not a question of whether you're a Democrat or Republican or whether you like Linda Lingle or Mazie Hirono; it's the need to cause a different set of dynamics, get a different perspective, a different set of players, different ideas and a different approach to running the state.
It's time for Hawai'i to change and to position itself for progress. Voters must have the courage, insight and wisdom to realize they must change the political party in power for the sake of our future.
Mike McCrary
'Aiea
Lingle endorsement doesn't make sense
I found the logic in The Advertiser's recommendation of Linda Lingle most disturbing: The Advertiser recommends that we elect the less qualified candidate who espouses policies it does not support from a party remembered for its second-rate economic, social and educational opportunities.
Why does The Advertiser endorse her? Because she represents "a hope for change" — not a force for change, not a statewide record for change, not a party with a legacy for change.
I want more than a "hope for change." I want more than change. I want progress.
I want competent, experienced leadership. I want someone with "integrity and honor" who has "served well" in state government. I want someone who says that she won't tolerate corruption and lives it — not one who talks about change and uses tax dollars to hire her husband.
I'm voting for Mazie Hirono and her running mate, Matt Matsunaga — for all the reasons cited by The Advertiser.
Jo-Ann M. Adams
Lingle our best hope for public education
For the past eight years, the Cayetano/Hirono administration has been referring to itself as the education governor and lieutenant governor. But let's look at the facts: $500 million behind in school maintenance, not enough school books to go around, the Felix Consent Decree with the state admitting it had lost control and could not manage the special-needs program, and a teacher contract that was agreed to but still is not settled.
It's no wonder so many families are working multiple jobs so they can send their children to private school. It reflects a loss of confidence in public education and in the current administration.
Linda Lingle is our best hope for public education.
Gerald Martens
GOP is stretching it on the environment
Hawai'i Republicans held a fund-raising dinner for gubernatorial candidate Linda Lingle featuring Christine Todd Whitman, head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Isn't it amazing that the new slogan of the Republican party is to "protect the environment"? Tell me this isn't so.
When did protection of the environment become the platform issue of the Republican Party?
It seems to me that just yesterday, President Bush was touting drilling for oil in the Alaska wildlife refuge and former Mayor Lingle allowed massive runoff into Ma'alea Harbor.
Genaro Q. Bimbo
'Ewa Beach
Hirono disparaged the Toastmasters
The Oct. 20 paper had a very comprehensive article interviewing both Mazie Hirono and Linda Lingle about their backgrounds. When both were asked how they got their public-speaking skills, Lingle immediately gave credit to Toastmasters International, an organization whose vision is to make effective communication a worldwide reality.
I was somewhat disappointed in Hirono's response when she said, "I just don't spout out things. I am not a Toastmaster." She goes on to say that she is really interested in things that are substantive, somehow implying that Toastmasters is some slick organization that only talks about things and does not deal with anything of substance.
If Hirono took the time to look into Toastmasters and perhaps attend a meeting, she would find out that we have been around for over 75 years helping people all over the world improve in their communication skills.
I have been a Democrat all my life, but after reading that article, I have decided to do what is best for Hawai'i and cast my vote for Linda Lingle on Nov. 5.
Greg Ching
Hirono had to go along with Cayetano
There are two things that should be kept in mind when voting for a new governor on Tuesday:
• Linda Lingle keeps emphasizing that a Hirono-Matsunaga administration would be a continuation of the Cayetano-Hirono administration. This premise makes no sense. Lieutenant governors mirror their governors' views in public, even if they hold different views. To do otherwise would produce a dysfunctional administration.
• Realistically speaking, a Republican administration would have an impossible task of trying to get Republican bills passed in a Democrat-controlled Legislature. Even a governor's veto would be useless because of partisan politics. What can a Republican governor hope to accomplish?
Chris Hirayasu
Waimanalo
Lingle victory would send right message
Your evenhanded endorsement of Linda Lingle is commendable. The Democratic Party did serve the people of Hawai'i well in the era when many contract laborers were subject to gross indignities. But times have changed. The plantations are gone, and the current business climate is deplorable.
The Wall Street Journal and Forbes are not alone in recognizing this. Many young professionals like myself have fled because economic opportunities are simply not forthcoming. At present, Hawai'i cannot compete for human and financial capital nationally or globally.
The election of Linda Lingle will, at the very least, signal that it's no longer "anti-business as usual." And perhaps those of us who have left can seriously consider returning to a revitalized Aloha State — one that is free of cronyism, nativism and the senseless jingoism that supports each.
Nikos A. Leverenz
Sacramento, Calif.
Lingle is out of gas
CNN Headline News reported on Oct. 28 that Honolulu has the most expensive gasoline in the nation. And Linda Lingle opposes gas caps?
Ann Yamasaki
A tainted politician
The Democrats must really be desperate when they have to bring in a tainted Mainland politician to help them win back voters. This election, it's time to vote for leaders with integrity. It's time for a new beginning.
Doug Conners
Kihei, Maui
Editorial board should be consistent
It is your right as a commercial business to endorse one person over another. But your editorial board ought to be consistent and well-researched.
I was shocked at your contradictory Nov. 1 endorsement of Mark Moses for House District 40 over me, Maeda Timson.
My platform and vision for the future are based on our people. My proven ability to work together with many to bring progress to our community is clear — and demonstrated over the decades. Your last-minute support of the incumbent hurts the overwhelming number of community members who have supported change and progress.
It is time for a change for progress and integrity. This is the progress needed, the heart and soul of what I represent.
Maeda Timson
Constitution requires blank votes be 'No'
Regarding the Oct. 28 letter protesting the counting of blank ballots as "No" votes: The state Constitution requires that "a majority of all the votes tallied upon the question, this majority constituting at least 50 percent of the total votes cast at the election," be "Yes" votes for an amendment to be ratified.
Because of that 50 percent vote requirement, blank ballots actually help those who want to defeat the amendment, which is why many people consider a blank ballot to be a "No" vote.
Why the high vote requirement? The reasoning is that we would not want something as important as a constitutional amendment to be adopted by a small fraction of the voters, and voters in 1980 agreed and raised the vote requirement from 35 percent to 50 percent of all votes cast in the election.
Jean Y. Aoki
Legislative chair
League of Women Voters of Hawai'i
We need new faces on the school board
I thought your BOE recommendations were excellent until you got to O'ahu-at-large.
Three of the four candidates you favored are BOE incumbents. If we are really interested in improving education, why should we vote to retain three people who have contributed to the current problems?
Please consider voting for the other two new choices, Marla Wade and Kenneth Segawa. They both seem interested in improving the schools.
I met Mrs. Wade while she was campaigning at a people's market. While we do not agree on all issues, she is sincere, articulate and motivated by a concern for children.
If we really want better schools, we need new faces at the BOE, not the status quo.
Candy Baker
Letters: Question No. 2
New thinking also needed for schools
Two days after trumpeting a new way of thinking by endorsing Linda Lingle, The Advertiser lapsed back into the old ways by opposing Question No. 2.
The two gubernatorial candidates, 74 of 76 legislators, Superintendent Hamamoto and Gov. Cayetano all understand what The Advertiser misses: The new way of thinking about education must be both/and instead of either/or.
Daniel E. White
Kihei, Maui
We should support all of our students
Improving Hawai'i's public schools is a goal all of us share — parents, business, labor and anyone concerned with our future. But holding down private schools does nothing to improve public education.
Can better schools of any kind be a bad thing? Voting "No" on Question 2 hurts only the 52,000 students attending 130 private schools and colleges in Hawai'i.
Many are small institutions that appeal to all ethnic and demographic groups. Their survival often hangs by a thread. Any little bit of financial help can make a difference, without hurting public schools a bit.
Walter A. Dods Jr.
Private schools are essential for Hawai'i
I was disheartened by The Advertiser's Oct. 31 editorial urging voters to reject Question No. 2 on Nov. 5. Some of the arguments were misleading and underestimate the value of Question No. 2 for education and prosperity in Hawai'i:
• The list of private school graduates who have gone into public service is long and distinguished.
• Support for the well-being and growth of private schools plays an integral role in the creation of a more prosperous Hawai'i.
• Private universities strengthen the entire higher education environment in the state by offering competition to the public system.
When your editorial insists that indirect assistance to private education harms public education, it fails to understand that we will only solve the challenges of the public education system by addressing its problems directly and not by impeding the growth of the private sector.
Chatt G. Wright
President, Hawai'i Pacific University
State would have no financial liability
I am disappointed in HGEA President Russell Okata's misleading statement when he said, "I don't think that the state of Hawai'i should be a guarantor for any bond or loan by a private school," with respect to Question No. 2. He certainly must know that the state does not guarantee the bonds and has no financial liability at all.
He and HSTA President Karen Ginoza are opposing the best interests of children in Hawai'i in urging a "No" vote.
This despite the fact that 40 other states make such funding available to private schools with no negative effects on public education.
Urging a "No" vote against the interests of teachers in the private sector strikes me as unprofessional and divisive.
Question No. 2 would involve no public money, would help many of our 130 private schools renovate their facilities, would stimulate the construction industry and would not obligate the state in any manner. It is a classic "win-win" situation.
Roderick F. McPhee
Retired president, Punahou School
Non-endorsement missed big picture
Your non-endorsement of Question No. 2 for private school loans truly misses the big picture. We should support all efforts to improve the education of Hawai'i's children, especially when they don't cost any taxpayer monies.
You also failed to note that the private schools' largest contribution to the public schools is that the taxpayers do not have to fund private school children's education.
Since parents of private school children pay taxes too, this is just one small way of supporting them, i.e., by creating a better environment for learning to take place.
Bob Matsuwaka
Bond issue critical to most private schools
Most private schools are not as well endowed as the Kamehamehas and the Punahous, and all schools are eventually faced with huge costs of renovating their facilities.
Many small schools, such as the one our daughter attends, are on tight budgets and are often limited by the high costs of financing.We are all better served by educated citizens regardless of their school background.
Les Omura
