Editorials
Friday, October 30, 1998

Linda Lingle is our
choice for governor

IN the belief that Hawaii sorely needs change, the Star-Bulletin endorses Linda Lingle for governor. As the Republican mayor of Maui, she has taken a common-sense approach to government that has earned her the cooperation of a largely Democratic county council and helped to make Maui the most prosperous island in the state. Along with thousands of Hawaii residents, we hope she will use the same approach at the state level to turn the economy around.

The ability of government officials to affect the economy for better or worse is often exaggerated. On the campaign trail, elected officials tend to take more credit for economic gains than they deserve. Conversely, they take a rosy view of the economy when things aren't going well because economic downturns reflect badly on them. That has been true in the current campaign for governor.

Obviously there are economic factors beyond the control of government. Hawaii tourism, for example, is greatly affected by economic conditions in its main markets, the U.S. mainland and Japan. However, the weight of excessive taxes and burdensome regulation can be a deterrent to investors, and this is widely recognized as a major problem here.

Lingle is committed to cutting waste in government and reducing taxes, without damaging essential government services. This would encourage business activity and help to end Hawaii's protracted economic slump. The fact that Lingle is not endorsed by any of the public employee unions with the exception of the University of Hawaii faculty union gives her an advantage in reforming state government.

The Democratic Party has dominated Hawaii government since 1954 in large part because of union support. The public employee unions have become so important to Democratic politicians that they have the power to block reforms that do not suit their members and win concessions that are not in the public interest. In effect, they elect their bosses.

This has produced overly generous benefits to state workers -- at taxpayers' expense, of course -- and frustrating restraints on the authority of administrators to discipline and reassign employees. The result is a government that costs too much and is impervious to change. It has earned a reputation for being anti-business that has hurt efforts to attract investment.

This is one of the problems of the incumbent. Ben Cayetano has tried to make changes, but he is tied to the same unions and interest groups that stand in the way of change. His Economic Revitalization Task Force produced only a weak endorsement of privatization, one of the prime ways to make government more efficient, to appease the public employee unions.

After decades in power, the Democratic Party has lost its idealism and is concerned primarily with staying in office. The scandal at the Bishop Estate is a Democratic scandal; two of the trustees under fire are former Democratic legislative leaders and all of the trustees were appointed by Supreme Court justices who were themselves appointed by Democratic governors. Cayetano deserves credit for ordering an investigation of the Bishop Estate, but that does not erase the stain on his party or eliminate the need to restore the two-party system.

Despite Cayetano's efforts at reform, the establishment is pulling out all the stops to re-elect him and retain its grip on state government. Some of the campaign tactics used against Lingle have been deplorable, indicating the Democrats may be getting desperate. Cec Heftel, who was himself victimized in a Democratic primary battle in 1986, warned Lingle to expect an attempt to smear her as the campaign winds down.

A vote for Cayetano is a vote for the status quo. A vote for Lingle is a vote for real change, change Hawaii needs to reposition itself for the new century. We're for Lingle.

Young athletes

PIXIE-LIKE gymnasts, figure skaters and tennis players are as charming as they are graceful and athletic. But the children whose parents and coaches have put them through grueling training may not be as happy as they seem. At 17, Dominique Moceanu bolted from her parents' Houston home and gained an independence that may be as important to her as the Olympic gold she won in Atlanta. Sports organizations that feature pre-teen athletes should not allow such abuses to occur.

Dominique's parents, former Romanian gymnasts and immigrants to the United States, made a commitment that their first born would be a gymnast. They began her training at age 3 and turned her professional at 10, putting her through seven- to nine-hour days in the gym, six days a week. When school started interfering with her preparation for the Olympics, her parents stopped sending her to class.

"It always had to be about the gym," Dominique said of her parents. "I would think, 'Don't you guys know anything besides gymnastics? Can't we go out for ice cream? Can't you be my mom and dad instead of me being your business?'"

Finally, Dominique fled her parents' home and petitioned the court to have her declared independent of her parents, who have held no jobs since 1996, living instead off their daughter's earnings. Her parents agreed days later to a settlement that will allow her to be declared a legal adult -- normally recognized at age 18. She will be entitled to obtain information about the status of her past earnings, most of which may have been squandered, and keep what she earns in the future.

USA Gymnastics has been criticized in the past for failing to protect the sport's young athletes from abuse and exploitation. It has had little to say about the Moceanu family affair except to call it "unfortunate when you see any parent and child resort to legal means" to resolve their problems.

The sport's governing body has it wrong. Dominique Moceanu's decision to seek legal redress was fortunate. It was unfortunate that USA Gymnastics allowed a situation to reach the point where a child felt desperate enough to look for a lawyer.

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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