REPUBLICANS
Hawai'i missed its chance on reforms
By Fred Hemmings and Galen Fox
Gov. Linda Lingle's election brought Hawai'i a fresh breeze of change. That bright 2002 day meant a new openness and fairness to government, an excellent leadership team helping Hawai'i, and major progress on issues that mean much to Hawai'i's people.
Since Lingle put up a sign saying, "Hawai'i is open for business," job creation has taken off. Hawai'i has generated 22,000 new jobs in the last 16 months, a big leap from job gains averaging just 1,270 a year from 1992 to 2002 — a no-growth Hawai'i that drove our people to the Mainland. In April, Hawai'i registered faster job growth than any other state.
The governor is working with the federal government through the Akaka bill for full recognition for our Native Hawaiian population, and is strengthening Hawaiian Home Lands programs. She and her administration have brought millions in new federal money to support a vast array of state programs.
In areas where the governor can act on her own, we've made significant progress. But where the Democrats still hold power, at the Legislature, the story is one of missed opportunities. The governor and Hawai'i's people wanted to transform public education for the benefit of Hawai'i's children. The Democrats blocked true reform. The governor and the people wanted to take a bite out of our serious "ice" problem by providing tools that police need to nail "ice" dealers. The Democrats denied law enforcement the weapons they need. The governor and the people wanted to see a government operating within its means with a balanced budget, no new taxes, and relief for those who can least afford taxes. The Democrats continued their big spending by raiding special funds, trying to dismantle successful agencies such as the Consumer Affairs Department, and blocking Lingle's effort to bring tax relief to the working poor.
What do we mean by missed opportunities? The people are demanding public education reform. The Department of Education, by its own figures, spends nearly $10,000 per child for public education, yet our public school students have some of the lowest scores in the country. Students are capable, teachers are motivated, but the system is obsolete.
The governor responded to popular concerns with a major education reform initiative involving the entire community, including Democrats and DOE leaders. Professor William Ouchi, local boy, son and brother of Hawai'i schoolteachers and author of "Making Schools Work," after visiting 500 schools helped lead and bless Lingle's effort. Democrat legislators did their best to bury it, denying the public the chance to vote for local school boards, failing to hold principals accountable for measured student achievement and refusing to give principals control over 90 percent of education spending. These reforms work elsewhere; Democrats denied them to Hawai'i.
On "ice," Republicans do support reasonable financial support for rehabilitation. But the people are also demanding that law enforcement lock up ice dealers. Police said "give us the tools we need" — a workable wiretap law, the right to obtain people's permission to search them and their possessions at airports and in neighborhoods ("walk and talk" and "knock and talk"), and a stiff law that takes
habitual violent criminals out of circulation. Not only did Democrats deny police these tools, they also passed a law that lets criminals walk instead of going to prison if they were on ice while they committed their crime. We call this the "Ice Get Out of Jail Free" card. And our neighborhoods are up in arms that the same bill allows ice rehab homes anywhere, overriding all county ordinances and safety codes.
The people want government to live within its means, like a family does. The governor seeks to get Hawai'i's financial house in order, to pay for current expenses out of current income, to stop raiding funds set up for such things as worker retirement and health, and to stop stealing from a highway fund that fills potholes and gives Hawai'i four federal dollars for every state dollar. Lingle knows that next year, debt payments will go up $225 million. Democrats not only raided special funds this year but also refused to recognize the debt problems that are about to hit us. Their actions threaten new taxes, when instead we should be helping the very working poor who pay some of the country's highest taxes.
The governor and the people who voted for her demand real reform.
Democrats treat Lingle's election by Hawai'i's people as if it never happened. They continue stubbornly to defend the status quo, giving us "business as usual." Because of their partisan resistance, we missed a real opportunity to move Hawai'i forward in a bipartisan drive for change. But with the people's help, the "New Beginning" Hawai'i demands will transform our state next year.
State Rep. Galen Fox, R-23rd (Waikiki, Ala Moana, Kaka'ako), is minority leader of the House. State Sen. Fred Hemmings, R-25th (Kailua, Waimanalo, Hawai'i Kai), is minority leader of the Senate.
