Lingle sets table for reforms in first year
| • | Governor's focus on education, economy, regaining trust |
| • | A chronology since inaugural |
By Gordon Y.K. Pang and Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
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Year One of Gov. Linda Lingle's "New Beginning" was short on major tangible accomplishments, but few would characterize the year as unsuccessful.
Gov. Linda Lingle acknowledges people in the upper level of Honolulu Hale during her inauguration. The Republican governor concentrated her efforts in her first year in office on laying the foundation for the next three years of her term, and beyond.
For the ever-patient, always-planning Lingle, the first 12 months that end Tuesday were all about laying the foundation for the next three years of her term, and beyond.
Evidence of her work could be found, not in the halls of the Legislature, but across the Islands at places ranging from the opening of a car show at the Hawai'i Convention Center to a pizza night "talk-story" session at the Wai'anae High School cafeteria to a radio station where she chats weekly with callers.
Like no other governor before her, Lingle has understood what it means to take her message directly to the people. She has won points from those not yet convinced her "New Beginning" is something they want to embrace.
In one breath, she offers a forum for citizens to let their own gripes be heard and in the next she looks directly into their eyes, "asking for your help" to lobby legislators on key proposals.
"It's like the mountain coming to the people," said Makaha resident Rene Bishaw after the Wai'anae talk-story session earlier this month. "How often do you see a whole government come into a community?"
Lingle, as the first Republican governor in 40 years, met with little success trying to influence a Legislature dominated by Democrats. She may have had no choice but to step into the community to garner support for her programs and positions.
"She understood the weaknesses that she had politically and she took advantage of the strengths," said University of Hawai'i political science professor Neal Milner. "The weaknesses are that there aren't a lot of Republicans around in the Legislature and the strength is that the way you have to deal with that, if you're governor, is, in a sense, you go outside the Legislature."
Kitty Lagareta, president of Communications Pacific and a close confidante of Lingle, said the philosophy behind constantly trying to find ways to communicate directly with the public doesn't go that deep.
"Isn't that what government is all about? Why wouldn't you take it to the people?" Lagareta said. "Government is us, and I think when (politicians) forget that, people tend to forget you."
Lingle said the talk-story series would have happened regardless of the outcome of the legislative session, and she noted that a similar program was successful during her eight years as Maui mayor.
"I just don't know how you can get that kind of input without going out into the community," she said. "The people that tend to write letters to the editor may not be who would be more comfortable in their own neighborhoods talking to you. And it just seems common sense to me that you would go out and talk to people."
House Majority Leader Scott Saiki, D-22nd (McCully, Pawa'a), said: "In terms of this first year, more than anything, the governor has been successful at launching a public relations campaign."
Argument for change
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Lingle took her argument for change to the people after the Democratic-controlled Legislature stymied nearly all of her major initiatives during the spring, then overrode six of her vetoes.
The 2002 Lingle campaign was focused on three primary issues: restoring trust and integrity in government, expanding and diversifying the economy and improving public education.
She wasn't able to convince Democratic lawmakers to adopt major legislation on those issues. But even opponents agreed it would have been difficult for her to have fared much better. In the first few months, she had to put a Cabinet together and she and her advisers faced a steep learning curve in the intricacies of state government.
Lingle still had half a dozen director positions to fill the first week of January. "For the most part, because of the timing, the governor lacked an agenda during the session," Saiki said. "It was a safe session. It was non-controversial."
It was in the education realm that the Lingle administration most clearly showed that 2003 was a table-setting year, and it will be perhaps the biggest test of the governor's clout with the public.
Lingle's centerpiece bill dealt with a constitutional amendment question asking voters if they want to replace the school board with local school boards. The measure failed to make it out of the House Education Committee despite the fact that many House Democrats had advocated the same the previous year.
Faced with that roadblock, the governor launched her educational reform advisory committee, made up of prominent private sector individuals but no Department of Education officials, to go into the community to lobby for support of the local school boards concept, as well as hear the public's concerns.
Perhaps the highlight of the 2003 Legislature came after the session itself ended, when Lingle vetoed 50 bills and the Democrats in both the House and Senate overrode six of them during a one-day session in June. None of the six vetoed bills were particularly compelling to the general public, and Lingle said she expects most people will forget the entire debate.
Saiki, however, said the vetoes pointed out the differences between Democrats and Republicans and noted that one override restored money for social programs. House Assistant Minority Leader David Pendleton, R-49th (Kane'ohe, Maunawili, Enchanted Lake), said of the special session: "The other side really just wanted to play some partisan politics," calling the bills that were overridden relatively insignificant.
Lingle has also made no secret her intent to point out to the public in next year's election season those lawmakers who opposed her on key issues. Most notably before the Hawai'i Developers Council in October, Lingle has urged the public to vote out those lawmakers they feel are not doing their bidding.
"Because the public elected me to carry out these reforms ... they wanted me to make these changes and I think it will be important for me to go out to them and talk with them after this next session and share who I think has been effective in helping us carry out those goals," Lingle said.
The governor's knack for taking a side and sticking to it has won praise from Cabinet members. Transportation Director Rod Haraga said directors are not left waiting for Lingle to make a decision. "When she needs to set direction, she'll set direction," Haraga said. "And when she needs to seek consensus, she seeks consensus."
David Koch, president of Starr Seigle Communications, said the message that has been conveyed to the public, too, has been a Lingle that is tough-talking and sincere.
"She doesn't appear to shy away from tough subjects," Koch said. Lingle's message often comes across earnestly and "it does not appear to be political maneuvering. She's speaking because she believes what she's saying, and she doesn't weigh the balance of political correctness or how it's going to affect the next political election."
Promises revised
But Lingle has revised some of her own campaign promises during her first year in office, although observers say such changes appear to be borne out of fiscal reality rather than insincerity. Those actions also highlighted her political style as pragmatic and moderate rather than rigidly ideological.
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The first such change came in her State of the State speech in January. She put off, at least temporarily, her most prominent campaign promise to eliminate the general excise tax on food and medical services. She said she will ask the Legislature to repeal those taxes when the economy improves, blunting House and Senate Republicans' arguments that such initiatives could be accomplished immediately. The governor pointed to her proposal to raise the standard deduction as another means of providing tax relief to the needy.
Gov. Lingle held one of her "talk-story" sessions at Wai'anae High School earlier this month. The frequent discussions gave residents of the state an opportunity to ask the governor and members of her Cabinet various questions and express concerns about their communities.
Lingle also wanted to restrict tax credits available under the high technology tax credit law known as Act 221. During the campaign she said she opposed amending the law. But because of her concerns about abuses of Act 221 and balancing the state budget, she now wants to close what she perceives as loopholes in the law.
Also during the campaign, Lingle bashed the upcoming Hawai'i Rx law — which creates a purchasing pool that would negotiate bulk discounts with drug manufacturers and pass the savings on to people with no prescription drug insurance. In a recent speech, Lingle said she would back the program as long as amendments are made to address legal concerns.
Perhaps Lingle's most surprising position came in October, when she said taxes must be raised to pay for a $2.64 billion light-rail transit system for O'ahu. She said she will ask the Legislature to grant counties the authority to levy taxes for transportation initiatives, a proposal that at least some Republicans disagreed with.
While some Democrats were quick to point out Lingle's flip-flops, others said they weren't surprising.
"I think that's expected for anybody who's in office," said Hawai'i Pacific University political science professor Greg Gaydos. "They're going to say things, and then reality stares them in the face."
High marks
Communications and marketing experts gave high marks to the selling of the Lingle agenda by the governor's public relations team, headed by former sports promoter Lenny Klompus.
Soon after being elected, Lingle began fielding questions for an hour every Monday on the show hosted by conservative radio personality Rick Hamada. In June, Klompus and the governor launched Lingle's own cable television show.
The administration snagged valuable prime time on network TV as well. KHON's "A Day In the Life of Hawaii's Governor," which showed the human side of Lingle, ran in mid-June just as her skirmishes with the Legislature were heating up.
Several weeks later, Lingle defended her handling of the state budget with a live, half-hour program on KITV. About the same time, a tourism marketing trip to Japan was covered by KITV. The station drew criticism from other media when it was discovered its expenses were paid by the Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau.
David Wilson, president of McNeil Wilson Communications, called the KITV prime-time address "unprecedented," and that it said as much about television newsroom management in Hawai'i today as it does about the Lingle team's marketing skills. Regardless of how, "she has earned more face time (on TV) than most of the governors at this stage in their term," Wilson said.
As the summer wore on, the governor and Cabinet members began the obligatory business lunch circuit as other administrations before them have done. But in late July, the administration launched the Cabinet on a series of 15 "talk story" sessions at school cafeterias throughout the state.
John Waihee, as governor in the late 1980s and early 1990s, held a series of "capitol for a day" events on the Neighbor Islands during which he and Cabinet members met with mostly friendly community groups in structured settings at strategic spots on those islands.
The Lingle "talk story" sessions have been entirely different. Something like a cross between a fund-raiser and a religious revival, the governor and Cabinet members not only sweat and eat stew rice with the masses, but field unrehearsed, sometimes hostile questions dealing with everything from neighborhood traffic to the homeless.
"People think that's easy but that's the most difficult form of speaking," said Helen Varner, dean of communications at Hawai'i Pacific University. "You have to be so informed, and your mind has to work so fast to call up the right answer ... That's a rare skill and this governor's got it."
Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com and Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com. Or reach either at 525-8070.
