Posted on: Thursday, October 31, 2002
Letters to the Editor
Endorsement hurts balanced coverage
I was dismayed to read the Oct. 29 editorial endorsing Linda Lingle.
I truly believe that any news media outlet should maintain a fair and even approach to its mission to the public, which is to disseminate information.
When a newspaper takes a stance to support a particular candidate for public office, it is difficult to believe that it would not slant its coverage and its writing to favor that candidate. As a daily publication, read by hundreds of thousands of people every morning, you are given a unique platform from which to relate your views and ideas. Whether it stems from an individual or your entire organization is beside the point: that platform is not readily available to the public.
Please keep this in mind. At this time, the people of Hawai'i need balanced coverage of topical issues more than ever.
Reyn Yorio Tsuru
Mazie Hirono doesn't qualify to be governor
Hurray for your enlightened endorsement of Linda Lingle. Our state really does need the "new beginning" she offers. But I do think it is important to know the negative truth as well as the positive message in all campaigns.
As a business person, I look at these people as applying for the important job of governor. We must do our due diligence in reference-checking. Which candidate is telling the truth and which can we count on to do the job better?
Hirono has had her chance to show us for eight years and her party for 40 years. Her "change" message simply doesn't track with the record of performance. The prevalent corruption, failed education system and poor business climate are a direct result of their failed leadership. They must be held accountable, and this is not negative — simply the truth.
As Auntie says, "We must weed the garden for the flowers to grow."
Chris Quackenbush
Linda Lingle supports sale of ceded lands
Linda Lingle is dangerous for the Hawaiians because she supports the sale of ceded lands before the Hawaiians' claim to those lands is resolved.
How do I know this? In 1994, I filed a lawsuit to stop the state from selling ceded lands and specifically to stop the sale of 1,000 acres of ceded lands in Lahaina. In response to the lawsuit, the newly elected governor, Ben Cayetano, imposed a moratorium on the sale of ceded lands.
Maui Mayor Linda Lingle immediately attempted to persuade Cayetano to sell the 1,000 acres in Lahaina because, in her words, the developer, C. Brewer, and the County of Maui were relying on the economic benefits from the "massive scale" development on those 1,000 acres in Lahaina.
Any Hawai'i politician who supports the sale of ceded lands before the Hawaiians' claim to those lands is resolved is unjust or does not believe the overthrow was illegal. Neither is good for Hawaiians.
In the next 10 years, if Hawaiians are to obtain major overthrow reparations, our next governor is going to have to be a person who truly believes in her heart that the overthrow was illegal and unjust.
Linda Lingle is not that person. Mazie Hirono is.
William Meheula
Political profile left out positive change
Kevin Dayton's Oct. 27 profile of Linda Lingle failed to note that as Maui mayor, she proved she's a leader. She helped Maui avoid the economic downturn that hit the rest of the state.
The unemployment gap between Maui and the state improved by 54 percent over Lingle's term, and as Dayton admitted, jobs went up by 15 percent on Maui, zero percent elsewhere.
Dayton also failed to mention that Lingle is still the only state or county executive who effectively linked budgets with government performance. And Dayton's handling of Maui tax policy slighted Lingle. She implemented "circuit-breakers" to protect homeowners, she lowered taxes and she increased revenue. While Lingle borrowed at the end of her term when Cayetano cut the counties' hotel tax share, if she'd been elected governor that year, Lingle would have given Maui its share back.
Dayton made other omissions. Because Lingle raised user fees to match needs, her fees were fees, not the hidden taxes the state collects. Lingle favors both reducing government when it makes sense, such as eliminating vacant positions, and growing government when the economy can afford it. Lingle will move change through a Legislature as easily as she did through the council: Her record is getting things done. She is free of the campaign contribution corruption influencing so many Hawai'i leaders today.
The choice is as clear. As Ed Case defined it, "either real change" (with Linda or, at the time, Ed), or "same old, same old" with Mazie Hirono.
Rep. Galen Fox
Lingle's plan would produce inequities
Our single Board of Education ensures that kids in Nanakuli receive the same quality of education as the kids in Kahala.
Because Mainland schools are managed by individual districts, kids in rich districts get a better education than kids in poor districts.
Linda Lingle has promised to replace our uniform system with seven separate districts. This is guaranteed to produce the same inequities in education as on the Mainland.
If The Advertiser was searching for the worst possible thing it could do to our education system, this could well be it: You endorsed Lingle. How could you?
Save our kids. Vote for Hirono.
Rick Lloyd
Voting Democrats out is good for everyone
Perhaps every 40 (that's 40, not four) years or so we should vote political incumbents out of office, just for a change.
Call me outrageous, but voting Democrats out of office after four decades at the helm is good for everyone, even Democrats in the long run. They need a break from all of the criticism.
No doubt Linda Lingle and Duke Aiona are not as good as their supporters claim, nor as bad as the Democrats portray them, but they clearly represent the change tonic that so many claim to want. Electing them would demonstrate that the local electorate truly has an open mind and provide a long-awaited mandate for new directions.
Mazie Hirono is a worthy candidate. She is a gracious lady and has worked to make things better in Hawai'i. But she is not, and it seems disingenuous to claim that she is, an agent for change. She clearly represents the status quo.
I plan to vote with the hope that a change in leadership in Hawai'i will create a more balanced, positive system. If not, I will vote for change again in four years, not 40.
Steven Maier
Linda Lingle would be beholden to Mainland
Linda Lingle's close ties with the national Republican Party concern me. She's received over half a million dollars from Mainland donors, most from national Republican Party members.
A Republican Main Street article boasts, "As governor, Lingle could build the (Republican) party, boost fund-raising and fill scores of top state jobs with future Republican candidates. If a U.S. Senate seat became vacant before the term was up, Lingle could appoint a GOP successor. ... A victory would put the GOP in control of one of the most centralized state governments in the nation. ... (Lingle's) getting fund-raising help from national Republican leaders." A Jewish Telegraph Agency article stated Lingle wants to use her connection with the national Republican Party to help Hawai'i feel less politically isolated.
If Lingle wins, I'm concerned she'll make decisions and appointments that benefit the GOP rather than the best choices for Hawai'i in order to be "less politically isolated" from the GOP.This is clearly what national Republican leaders expect from Lingle. Mazie Hirono is answerable only to the people of Hawai'i.She genuinely cares and will make the right choices for us.
C. Reeser
Republicans will do better for Hawaiians
I just saw the news conference where Clayton Hee stated that Republicans don't understand Native Hawaiian issues and he endorsed Mazie Hirono for governor. But I believe it is the Democrats who have done the most to take away lands from the Native Hawaiians or have tried to block land from being returned.
For years, Dan Inouye blocked the return of Kaho'olawe to the Hawaiian people, claiming it was essential for the Navy to retain control. But it was Pat Saiki who convinced George Bush the elder to return Kaho'olawe to the Hawaiian people and to provide the funds for its cleanup.
Also, as stated in your Sunday article, Mazie Hirono is one of the biggest and earliest advocates of mandatory condominium leasehold conversion. This is one of the biggest threats to Hawaiian trust lands.
So when you go into the voting booth next Tuesday, ask yourself, which party by its actions and not by its rhetoric is really for keeping Hawaiian land in Hawaiian hands and which party is for taking away lands from Hawaiian control?
Lee N. Kaneshiro
Editorial urging vote for Mink rings hollow
The Oct. 28 editorial suggesting, recommending, demanding that voters "vote for Mink" rings so hollow that everyone in Hawai'i should take instant notice.
This is a paper that is Democratic from top to bottom and would try to sway the public in any way possible to do what's necessary in order for the Democratic Party to gain or retain political power.
While they are right that voting for Mink as a way to honor her memory is not valid, to suggest that a new election resulting from her win would give the Republican candidate a chance to air his opinions is simply rhetoric.
What The Advertiser wants is to enable the Democratic Party to choose a "big name" candidate who would provide Hawai'i Democrats a popular and sentimental choice. The passion of popularity is not what Hawai'i needs in this year's election.
Gerald Bohnet
Farm animals don't belong next door
The City Council should vote, on Bill 71, to ban farm animals, especially roosters and hens, from residentially zoned areas.
My family has owned the property I live on since 1948, and we never had animal problems until recently. My neighbor of a few years has just built a dog kennel, rabbit cages and rooster cage — all downwind — and 10 feet from my property and master bedroom. He moved the cages as far from his house as possible and as close to mine — along my perimeter wall — as he could.
The bad smell, flies and noise are affecting my health and welfare.
My house has been appraised at over $500,000, but if I wanted to sell, I could not even get close to that amount because of the "farm" next to my bedroom.
When a homeowner buys a house, he has the legal expectation of "quiet enjoyment" of his home, free from nuisances such as bad odors, flies and excessive or undue noise. State law recognizes these issues, and the state of Hawai'i has enacted a seller's disclosure law that addresses these issues in minute detail and with no exceptions (sellers cannot claim to not know because they are absentee landlords) because it directly affects the market value of the property.
If the City Council does not pass Bill 71, or waters it down by amending it to allow hens, it will be effectively taking value from me and others like me without just compensation.
Also, because the issue is now on the table, simply by doing nothing the City Council would in essence be down-zoning my lot from residential to agricultural. All such affected individuals should have the right to just monetary compensation, not limited to but at the very least a significant reduction in their property taxes based on agricultural land rates.
Bert Nakamura
Dobelle should focus his efforts elsewhere
Regarding UH President Evan Dobelle's "Plan to improve public education," as reported in the Oct. 22 Hawai'i section: I certainly hope the state does not allow Dobelle to spend millions of dollars to prepare Hawai'i's children for kindergarten.
Please, someone stand up and tell Dobelle that the problem with Hawai'i's educational system isn't rooted in the 4-year-olds.
As an individual who went to a public school, I believe the problem is located in the higher grade levels, where there is an obvious lack of standards for both teachers and their students. Intermediate and high school teachers need to be constantly re-educated and updated so that they are able to prepare students for college. In addition, students should be required to meet a certain level of excellence before they are allowed to go on to the next grade level.
If Dobelle really wants to have an effect on public education, he should pick on someone his own size: He should encourage our political leaders to impose high and tough standards on our administrators, teachers and students.
Cindy Mackey
R-Waikiki/Ala Wai
Volcano, Big Island
