Posted on: Thursday, June 5, 2003

EDITORIAL
Bipartisanship rears pretty head this week

Make no mistake. The Democrats have hardly ceded control of Hawai'i politics and government to the Republicans because Linda Lingle won the governorship last time around.

But for the moment, there was a hopeful sign of political thawing this week between the two camps that could serve Island residents well pending the next battle.

At a construction ceremony this week for the new $150 million medical school in Kaka'ako, Lingle lavished praise for Democrats in general and her predecessor, Gov. Ben Cayetano, in particular.

It took "guts," Lingle said, for Cayetano and the Democratic-controlled Legislature to push ahead with this ambitious project in the depths of the state's economic slump following Sept. 11.

What the Democrats recognized, and what Lingle said she now endorses, is that the medical school could be the center of a new economic engine for Hawai'i.

Cayetano was equally gracious, accepting the governor's compliments and congratulating her for putting her energy behind this project.

There are plenty of political battles to come. But what Cayetano and Lingle modeled this past week is a style that puts the interests of Hawai'i — and all its citizens — above the interests of partisan politics.

That style should dominate during the remaining three years of this administration.