Lingle pitches
state workers, knocks
nonbid contracts
She would rescind the
By Mary Adamski
'payroll lag' and go back to
paying workers for days
not yet worked
Star-BulletinRepublican gubernatorial candidate Linda Lingle says she expects state workers to vote for her "because no one sees waste and mismanagement in government more closely than public employees."
Lingle, who has been Maui County mayor for two terms, said state workers should be reassured by her record there. "Not one government employee has been laid off in eight years. Government on Maui has expanded." The comments came in a question-and-answer session last night at a Lingle rally in Hawaii Kai attended by 350 people.
"People are afraid to vote for you because you're going to throw half of us out and privatize our jobs," said a member of the crowd who identified himself as a public employee.
"The issue is the size of government in relation to the total economy," said Lingle. The expansion of Maui County in its park system, Fire Department and other areas is directly tied to the growth in the private sector where, she said, 5,400 new jobs were added during her terms.
She said that, as governor, she would rescind the "payroll lag" measure implemented by the current administration to save the state $51 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30. "It's an accounting gimmick, to pretend that we balanced our books," she said.
The "payroll lag" delays state workers' payday by one day each pay period through Sept. 20. The savings in fiscal 1997-98 occurred because the first shift put the payday into a new fiscal year's budget. Previously, each paycheck included pay for days that had not yet been worked. The change makes it an after-the-fact pay system common in the private sector. For each worker, it means one less paycheck during this calendar year.
Lingle mostly stuck to laying out her standard campaign planks, stressing the need to stimulate the economy. "We have to diminish our reliance on tourism. We've seen in the last weeks how vulnerable we are if we are dependent on tourism," she said, citing stock market plunges which "make people uneasy and reluctant to spend on travel," the Northwest Airlines pilot strike grounding several flights a day to Hawaii, and the shrinking value of the yen, affecting Japan travelers.
She took few direct shots at her Democratic opponent, Gov. Ben Cayetano. One tack, which brought enthusiastic applause, was criticism of nonbid contracts awarded to Makai Village Partnership for construction of Kapolei schools. Cayetano's friend Bert A. Kobayashi is chairman of PAB Investment Corp., one of two general partners for Makai Village.
"Anywhere else in America, this would be illegal," said Lingle. "It is not the kind of message you send out of the state and not the message to send to your own business community.
"Our reputation is that you have to know someone to get something done in Hawaii. The nonbid construction contracts are the most vivid example of . . . cronyism and the waste of taxpayers' money."
Cayetano says state
By Harold Morse
getting business friendly,
Slom disagrees
Star-BulletinHawaii is becoming "business friendly" says Gov. Ben Cayetano in announcing new ways to eliminate a paperwork jungle of business forms and registration procedures.
But critic, GOP state Sen. Sam Slom, says it's too little and too late.
"The registry process is like a welcome mat for business, and we're making Hawaii friendlier to business by speeding up the time it takes to register a business and process many forms," Cayetano said.
"So far, the actions have spoken louder than words, and the actions indicate that we still have a hostile business climate," said Slom, also president and executive director, Small Business Hawaii.
The state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs has consolidated and reduced by one-third the business forms that need to be filed, Cayetano said.
The department is developing a computer system to record all business filings more efficiently, allow electronic filing of business documents and applications and provide more user-friendly public access and viewing.
Other moves to woo business are creating a simplified One Stop Business Registration Form that reduces 12 tax and permit applications to one page.
An innovation is a "one-stop" downtown Business Assistance Center touted as a faster and easier means to register a new business.
