Editorials
Thursday, February 5, 1998GOVERNOR Cayetano has tried to get everybody on board behind the recommendations of his Economic Revitalization Task Force. But there are some notable defectors. One of course is the mayor of Honolulu, Jeremy Harris, the most prominent figure who wasn't invited to participate in the task force. Presumably Cayetano viewed him more as a political rival than as a colleague. Another is Marilyn Bornhorst, the former chairwoman of the City Council who is now state chairwoman of Hawaii's Democratic Party. Democrats’ disunity
on excise tax hikeBornhorst's main objection, as is true for many other critics, is the proposed increase in the general excise tax from 4 percent to 5.35 percent. The often outspoken Bornhorst attended a House Democratic caucus Monday and then announced that most members of the party -- she called it a 95 percent consensus -- oppose the increase.
As a small businesswoman, she added, she personally doesn't like it. She suggested that legislators study the tax package "very carefully" and that they consider the proposals of the League of Women Voters of Hawaii as an alternative. These include raising the personal income tax for upper income people -- the reverse of the task force's proposal to lower income taxes.
Senate President Norman Mizuguchi, who sponsored the task force along with Cayetano and House Speaker Joe Souki, appeared to be stunned by Bornhorst's remarks. He described himself as "really concerned and very disappointed." He said statements like Bornhorst's make it difficult for the party to come together.
They sure do, but they may reflect reality more than claims of unity. It is becoming clear that the excise tax increase will be a hard sell. In their speeches at the Legislature's opening-day ceremonies, the Republicans made it plain they are adamantly opposed, and small business certainly is, considering it a threat to its survival. Activists for low-income people don't like it either, contending that it hurts the poor more than the affluent.
The rationale for the hike is that other provisions will more than offset the increase for Hawaii residents, leaving it for the tourists to bear the burden. There is a lot of skepticism about that claim, perhaps enough to scuttle the proposal. Yet without it the whole tax package of the task force wouldn't be viable.
NEARLY 40 convicted murderers have been executed in Texas in the past year, but none received the amount of attention paid to the most recent inmate on death row. The routine nature of the attempt to gain a reprieve failed to dispel the public trauma associated with the execution of Karla Faye Tucker. The barbaric nature of capital punishment is most glaring, it seems, when the person to be killed by the state is a woman. Karla Tucker's death
Tucker was an unfortunate person. She recalled sharing drugs with her mother "like lipstick." At the age of 11 or 12, she was a heroin user and had sex, and became a teen-age prostitute. She was 24 when she used a pickax to hack a man and woman to death in Houston during a three-day drug binge with her boyfriend, Daniel Garrett, who died in prison while awaiting execution. Tucker told friends she felt a sexual thrill each of the dozens of times she swung the pickax at her victims.
Once behind bars, Tucker became a model inmate and, like many, especially those on death row, she found religion. She portrayed herself as rehabilitated and pleaded for her life to be spared so she could help other prisoners. Her doe eyes and winsome smile gained a following, and religious leaders from television evangelists to Pope John Paul II pleaded for mercy.
The Supreme Court twice rejected Tucker's request for a stay of execution hours before her appointed time. Texas Gov. George W. Bush, who has refused to issue one-time, 30-day reprieves for any of the 59 men executed during his administration, turned down her request. He would have been hard-pressed to provide a legitimate reason why she deserved special treatment.
Tucker became the first woman since the Civil War to be executed in Texas and only the second in the country since the death penalty was reinstituted in 1976. Meanwhile 431 men have been executed.
Next month, a 54-year-old woman, Judi Buenoano, is scheduled to die in Florida's electric chair for poisoning her husband, drowning her handicapped son and plotting to blow up her boyfriend. Buenoano professes to be a born-again Christian and spends her time in prison knitting and crocheting. That probably won't save her either from the desire for vengeance.
DECENTRALIZATION of authority over the public schools is attractive in principle but the reality can be something else. A report by the state auditor says school personnel are overwhelmed by their responsibilities and feel that the Department of Education's support services are inadequate. Schools need control
Under decentralization, school administrators are given greater responsibilities, including repairs and maintenance of school buildings, ensuring that they meet county codes, paying electrical bills and complying with court orders. Half of the principals surveyed said district offices don't provide the support they need and school staffs are overburdened.
The audit found that five years after the Legislature voted to give schools more control of their budgets they still controlled only 4 percent of the money. But they are having trouble managing even that small fraction.
The purpose of decentralization is to increase efficiency by avoiding the need to await approval by department officials before action. But it won't succeed unless the principals are given the people to do the work.
Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
