Posted on: Tuesday, April 13, 2004

Tourism liaison money restored

By Bruce Dunford
Associated Press

House and Senate conferees on the state budget have restored money for Gov. Linda Lingle's Cabinet-level tourism liaison office that had been cut by the Senate, a key lawmaker said yesterday.

However, conferees agreed not to provide money for the governor's senior policy adviser, Linda Smith.

"I would hope that before they finalize the budget that they'll reconsider the importance of that position as it relates not just to the governor but to the entire state, as Linda Smith guides the governor in establishing public policy," said Bob Awana, Lingle's chief of staff. "The position is critical and should be restored."

Republican Lingle last week criticized the elimination of $164,942 in the budget for Tourism Liaison Marsha Wienert's office in the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. Lingle called it "politics at its worst" on the part of the Senate's Democratic majority.

Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Brian Taniguchi, D-10th (Manoa, McCully), said it was an attempt to economize in tight times, carrying out the Senate's strategy to delete money for positions vacant for more than six months. The money for Wienert's office came from money allocated to four unfilled DBEDT positions.

Taniguchi also said there was concern that Lingle had unilaterally created a Cabinet-level position without the Senate confirmation required of Cabinet members and that Wienert's work duplicated the work of the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

As for Smith's job, "we didn't give what the governor wanted, which was to reauthorize the position," Taniguchi said.

Lingle's office requested money to permanently establish the position of senior policy adviser, a job initially held by University of Hawai'i law professor Randy Roth, who was on loan and paid by the university.

Roth was replaced in November by Smith, a businesswoman.