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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Tuesday, June 7, 2005

ISLAND VOICES

A plague on both the state political parties

By Tracy A. Ryan

It is amusing to see how the chairs of the two old political parties spin the results of the 2005 legislative session through their recent columns in The Advertiser. We are one of the worst-governed states in the nation. Both the Democrats and Republicans have to take the blame.

There is no doubt that legislative Democrats are under the thumb of the public employee unions. Much of the progress made under the previous Democratic administration to moderate public union influence has been undone by the Legislature since former Gov. Ben Cayetano left office. The "right to strike" for public employees, which Cayetano supported, was eliminated, creating the mandatory arbitration system the GOP is now decrying. While Republicans spent the 2004 election trying to inflame public fears over the crystal meth issue, the public employee unions were quietly pushing Democrats back into line.

Brennon Morioka, writing for the Republicans, points the finger at the unions. This is not where the problem lies. There are tens of thousands of people in private-sector unions who are no happier with the privileged position the public employee unions have than Brennon is. Again this was well understood by the previous administration in its efforts to find a better balance between public employees and taxpayers.

As for the current governor, she has spent the past five years avoiding the issue of the power of public employees. Statements she made to the Small Business Hawai'i annual conference in January 2002 indicated her equivocation. She said she would only cut government employees through attrition.

Even some of the Democrats on the panel rolled their eyes at this one. She has openly sought the support of the unions representing teachers and university faculty who were angered over Cayetano's handling of their contract negotiations. She has criticized Cayetano for allowing these unions to strike. In short, she played right into the hands of the public employee unions Republicans only now wish to publicly take issue with.

Both parties need to concentrate on cleaning up their own houses. Democrats who feel the current cast of characters have sold out to the public employee unions need to work to replace them through their own primaries. The alternative is to have the GOP use this issue effectively to take political power in the state.

Fiscal conservatives have to reinvent the Republican Party and take it away from the control of the empty-suit Lingle administration and the spin doctors who drive its policies. I find that there is widespread dislike for the Democrat-controlled Legislature among voters who don't want to support a Republican alternative they see as nothing but fear-mongering and name-calling.

Fair or not, that's how many feel.

The leading problems we face — crime, housing, education, economy, traffic — are mostly caused by incompetent government. The Libertarian Party seems to be the only group in Hawai'i more interested in solving them than in using them for political advancement. We will continue to work to better our state. I believe a move by the two old parties away from political hogwash and toward libertarian problem-solving will go a long way to improve all of our lives.

Until that happens, Libertarians are the only genuine alternative.

Tracy A. Ryan is chair of The Libertarian Party of Hawai'i. She wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.