By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Vice President Al Gore is greeted at Hickam Air Force
Base today by more than 50 people as he arrived following
a two-week vacation in the islands.

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Gore will
hear Hawaii
school pleas

Forum in Aliamanu today seeks
$40.9 million in federal aid

By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

Hawaii will benefit from President Clinton's proposed initiative to modernize the nation's schools, U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie told students, parents and teachers at a town meeting at Aliamanu Elementary and Intermediate School today.

If approved, Hawaii schools would gain $40.9 million in federal aid to build more schools, repair deteriorating classrooms and outfit rooms for the computer age.

The plan also includes $3 million for Hawaii to hire and train 80 more teachers to reduce first- to third-grade class sizes to a national average of 18 students.

For a forum to be moderated by Vice President Al Gore, Abercrombie released results of a survey he conducted in his 1st Congressional District earlier this year.

Seventy-four principals expressed the need for replacing or repairing aging school buildings, bringing them up to code and beefing up their electrical capacity to accommodate more computers and technology.

Among the issues raised by principals was the age of Hawaii's schools. Many public schools were built in 1954; more than half were built before statehood. To accommodate rising enrollment, 1,127 portable classrooms are being used at 74 schools.

Intended to be temporary, five portables at Aliamanu have been in use for 32 years. Other schools without portables are forced to hold classes in storage areas, hallways or cafeterias. "How can a storage area be an appropriate learning environment for a child?" Abercrombie asked.

Electrical upgrades are a universal need, and the urgency is even greater with a law passed last legislative session requiring public school eighth-graders to be computer-literate by the year 2000.

Gore was to attend the town meeting after addressing a government employees' convention in Waikiki, where he headed upon his 10 a.m. arrival in Honolulu from a neighbor island vacation.

Also on the Hawaii State Parent Teachers Association wish list is getting entire schools built all at once, rather than piecemeal, said President Susan St. Aubin.

It can take years to build an entire campus, and students this year returned to school as construction continued, she said. "Bottom line is, let's make education a priority in this state for a change."

Another concern, she said, is the lack of infrastructure at older schools. At Maili Elementary, the community met the school's request for fans to help make classrooms more comfortable for students forced to sit in sweltering portables that are often boarded up to keep out dust and vandals.

But like many older schools, Maili lacks the electrical capacity to accommodate all the fans provided, St. Aubin said. "It's really sad."

At Queen Liliuokalani School, a teacher had turned on a microwave oven to melt butter for a cooking demo when it caused the power in four classrooms to go out.

"We definitely need electric upgrades," said Principal Karen Tsukiyama.

Many schools are also in need of construction to bring their facilities into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Abercrombie's survey found that 53 percent of 1st District schools were not handicapped accessible -- an area where federal construction funds can help, the congressman said.

"These survey results tell Vice President Gore, and I, that we need federal help to make Hawaii's schools ready for the 21st century," Abercrombie said.

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Gores rally here
for isle Democrats

A string of campaign appearances
will wrap up their Hawaii visit

By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

Vice President Al Gore, ending a two-week Hawaii vacation with a string of campaign appearances on Oahu today, will attend tonight's Democratic rally that is expected to draw 8,000 loyal supporters.

More than 50 people were on hand about 10 a.m. when the vice president's Air Force II came into Hickam Air Force Base after a 20-minute flight from Lihue.

Gore emerged from the plane in a blue-and-white aloha shirt and white slacks, and waved to the crowd before being greeted by Gov. and Mrs. Ben Cayetano. He was with wife Tipper, who wore a brown blouse and mustard-colored slacks.

After going through the receiving line, Gore walked along the fence line, shaking hands with those in the crowd.

"Nice to see you all," he said, before jumping into a limousine with Cayetano.

The Gores have been vacationing since Aug. 13 on Kauai and the Big Island. This was their third visit to the islands. They were last here in 1995 to celebrate their 25th anniversary on Kauai.

While on Oahu today, Gore was to address the 5,000 delegates and guests attending the 33rd international convention of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO at the Hawai'i Convention Center.

He then was to attend a tour and town hall meeting on education at Aliamanu Elementary School.

Tonight, the Gores were to address a $25-a-head Democratic Party rally at 5:30 p.m. today at McKinley High School.

Tipper Gore also is slated to address the AFSCME's breakfast meeting tomorrow morning before the family leaves the islands at 8:30 a.m. from Hickam for San Francisco and a series of fund-raisers and town hall meetings. They return to Washington, D.C., on Aug. 27.

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Inouye, Cayetano
urge labor to vote
for Democrats

By Mike Yuen
Star-Bulletin

Greeted with cheers and standing ovations, Gov. Ben Cayetano and U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye have reaffirmed the Democratic Party's historic ties to labor, and urged 5,000 unionized government workers from across the nation to defeat Republicans at the polls in November.

Cayetano and Inouye even boasted of their personal ties to labor as they opened the five-day international convention of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees at the Hawaii Convention Center yesterday.

Help Democrats regain control of Congress, urged Inouye, a life member of the musicians union.

Talk to members of the rank and file who now "think like Republicans," added Cayetano, who was an apprentice member of the electrical workers union before he attended UCLA and Loyola Law School. "Labor made this country great. Let us not forget that!" intoned Cayetano, who, like Inouye, is up for re-election but who faces a tougher electoral battle.

Vice President Al Gore was to address the AFSCME convention today and then join Cayetano, Inouye and other top isle Democratic officials at a coordinated campaign rally at McKinley High School that organizers expect to attract 8,000 people.

Hawaii Republican Party Chairwoman Donna Alcantara was unimpressed by the Democratic-labor love-fest and the campaign appearance of the vice president, who will be joined by his wife, Tipper, at McKinley.

"For the Democrats to be sending in a national figure, you really got to believe that they believe this governor is in trouble," she said.

National Republican officials believe Cayetano is beatable. Currently, Republicans hold 32 governorships and Democrats have 17. One is an independent.

"I believe this election is entirely about Hawaii and the fact that this Democrat governor is the only one in the United States unable to get his state to enjoy the prosperity that the rest of the country is enjoying," Alcantara said. When isle voters go the polls, she said, they'll be thinking about Hawaii's sluggish economy, lost jobs and family members forced to move elsewhere to find work.

Cayetano and Inouye have been endorsed by the Hawaii Government Employees Association, an AFSCME affiliate that has endorsed only Democratic candidates.

It was the partnership between Democrats and organized labor that gave Hawaii residents mandatory prepaid health coverage and the A+ after-school program for students, Cayetano said.

He added that it was during Republican control of the isles, before the labor movement gained strength here, that pro-union workers were blacklisted. Inouye said the Republican-controlled Congress is "dangerous." He branded GOP-inspired measures "slightly racist."

"Some of the laws that have been passed by this Congress really sadden me," Inouye said. "Some of the laws on immigration, if you look at them carefully, you would have to conclude they are slightly racist. If you look at public education (laws), you can't help but think they are slightly racist."

In 1996, Cayetano, Inouye and U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, another member of Hawaii's all-Democratic congressional delegation, objected to the landmark Republican bill overhauling the nation's welfare system. It contained what they saw as an objectionable provision that sharply restricted assistance to legal immigrants.