But our leaders in the House and Senate recently stated that they were not for repealing the high-three policy and that such a measure would only be "symbolic" since it would have very little impact on the state budget.
While the people with the most needs are taking very real cuts in monies and services, our leaders do not want to make "symbolic" ones. It seems that even in times of crisis our leaders continue to take care of themselves. What will it take to wake them up?
HOWARD KADOHIRO
I question Paul Dixon's statement in his March 15 letter that University of Hawaii President Kenneth Mortimer "has resisted faculty layoffs during the current budgetary crisis."
These are also the words - perhaps even verbatim - that Mortimer spoke when he addressed the Honolulu Community College faculty on March 15. Well, might one ask, "What's in a word? A layoff by any other name . . ."
Mortimer was asked by one of the faculty that day how he could say there had been no layoffs when lecturers have all but vanished from the HCC campus and much of the non-tenurial (and some tenure track) faculty have been advised that they will not be reappointed to their positions.
Mortimer reiterated that there have been no layoffs. Lecturers were not rehired, and certain instructors will not be reappointed when their contracts expire, but those are not layoffs, he said.
All of which leaves me with this question: Should discussion between faculty and administration be an issue of substance or semantics?
WENDY POLLITT
Some things should be kept secret.
Whoever discovered that the state may take in $50 million more than expected should not have mentioned it to the fearless leaders who spend our money. These clowns running the state are mostly lawyers and the way they do mathematics is not anything like the math taught in non-law schools. How else could a lawyer bill his clients 280 hours for a week's work?
In terms everyone understands Hawaii's party in office runs the state on a spend-and-tax basis. They overspend; they add taxes. When they overspend again they do away with credits, another form of taxing. This is repeated as often as they think necessary.
BRUCE TETREAULT
In a March 20 letter, Michael Ainsworth complained that DOT employees got to go on the H-3 tour first. This is the first time we've ever tried to put on an event like this and we wanted to test it on our employees so that when we invited the public to attend, everything would go smoothly. We also invited our employees first so that they would volunteer to help on the public dates. We need 200 volunteers each day to conduct the tour.
Letter writer Jim Schaefer (Letters, March 20) complained that there was a charge associated with the tour. We were not budgeted for this event and had no state funds available. The distance from the parking area to the tunnel is eight miles round-trip. Without the use of buses, the majority of residents would not be able to attend.
Therefore, we had to rent buses, toilets, print tickets, purchase newspaper ads, hire police officers to direct traffic, etc. to make it possible for people to visit. The $3.50 per ticket covers the expenses of the event. Without our employees, contractors and others volunteering to help, the cost would be even higher. Our employers paid for the tour, the same as anyone else.
MARILYN KALI
State Department of Transportation