Tourism liaison cut in Senate's budget
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
Gov. Linda Lingle criticized the Senate's decision to strike financing for tourism liaison Marsha Wienert and a secretary from the state budget.
The Senate Ways and Means Committee last week eliminated $164,942 from the budget of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. The administration had pegged the money for the salaries of Wienert and her assistant, and operating expenses tied to her office.
On Friday, the full Senate approved House Bill 1800, the state budget plan. It now goes to conference committee where House and Senate leaders will iron out their differences, including whether to finance Wienert's office.
During her 2002 gubernatorial run, Lingle stressed the importance of tourism to the economy and promised to hire a Cabinet-level tourism liaison who would coordinate policies between the visitor industry and the state. Wienert, the former executive director of the Maui Visitors Bureau, was hired last June.
Wienert makes $83,000 annually, the same as department heads, and sits in on Cabinet meetings.
"The elimination of the tourism liaison position is politics at its worst and shows a tremendous short-sightedness on the part of the Senate Democrats," Lingle said in a release. "It's irresponsible for the Senate to eliminate funding for a position that is so critical to the future of our state's No. 1 industry."
Ways and Means Chairman Brian Taniguchi, D-10th (Manoa, McCully), said concerns were raised that Wienert's office duplicates the work of the Hawai'i Tourism Authority. "There is an argument that this is redundant," he said. And "given our budget situation," he said, the financing of Wienert's office is "a lower priority."
The administration found money from vacant positions within DBEDT to pay for the tourism liaison's office, Tani-guchi said. Because that money wasn't being used for its intended purpose, he said, eliminating it from the budget is consistent with his position to cut more than 300 positions statewide that have been vacant for six months or more to save money.
Senate Tourism Chairwoman Donna Mercado Kim, D-14th (Halawa, Moanalua, Kamehameha Heights), said she backs the Ways and Means Committee decision, noting that she has raised issue with the Cabinet-level status the administration bestowed on the job when it does not require approval by the Senate like other department heads.
Kim said that if Lingle wants to make the tourism liaison an official Cabinet position, a bill should be introduced establishing it in state statutes. "She should legitimize it," Kim said.
Lingle's statement said that "until Marsha Wienert came on board as the tourism liaison, there was no coordinated effort between the visitor industry stakeholders, executive branch of government, its departments, and the community."
The statement credited Wienert with coordinating homeland security and emergency preparedness issues tied to the visitor industry with state and federal officials. She is also involved with the administration's fight to ease visa restrictions for international visitors who want to visit Hawai'i only, and she has held talks with airlines to increase airlift capacity.
But Kim said that Wienert has not supported the key initiatives put forth by tourism industry leaders in this year's Legislature.
She said it was "hypocritical" for the administration to accuse the Legislature of partisan politics given Wienert's opposition to those initiatives.
Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
