DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Rail transit supporters rallied at City Hall yesterday prior to the City Council's vote on a general excise tax increase to fund a mass transit project. The Council approved the measure on its second of three readings.

Rail transit backers
target gov at rally

Lingle's veto looms as City
Council members vote 7-2 to
advance an excise tax increase

Rail transit supporters came to pressure the City Council yesterday, but they were really talking to Gov. Linda Lingle.

The City Council, in a 7-2 vote, approved on second reading the bill that would enact a general excise tax increase to pay for a mass transit project. The vote followed a rally at City Hall that attracted about 200 members of labor unions, businesses and community groups pushing for rail transit.

But the speeches were directed at Lingle, starting with Mayor Mufi Hannemann.

"Gov. Lingle, do not veto (House Bill) 1309," Hannemann told the crowd.

"You know what's going to happen?" U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie told a reporter. "Every time somebody gets stuck in traffic, if she vetoes this bill, people are going to say, 'Well, I'm in a Lingle lane.'"

"I don't think the governor wants to have Lingle lanes around ... going into the next election," Abercrombie said.

Lingle was not pleased by some of the speeches, saying the people who made the remarks "are not very secure in their own position or what they are saying."

"They don't have to resort to name-calling or those kind of snide remarks," she told reporters.

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM In the City Hall courtyard before yesterday's City Council vote on the general excise tax increase, Laura Pennington and U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie handed out lollipops with the message "Traffic sucks."

City Council Bill 40 would implement the tax increase in January. Council members Charles Djou and Barbara Marshall voted no for the 0.5 percentage point GET increase.

But whether the Council takes a final vote on the bill on Aug. 10 could ultimately rest with Lingle and the Legislature.

Lingle has said she will not veto the measure if the Legislature changes the bill so that counties and not the state would collect the tax. If the Legislature does not go into a special session, she wants state lawmakers to commit to making the changes next year.

"My position is clear. I said if the change isn't made, I will veto the bill, and that is why it is on the veto list," Lingle said. "I would expect in these few days leading up to the 12th, they will start to take that action. I have been surprised they let it go this long."

Lingle has until Tuesday to veto the measure.

Abercrombie said Lingle should sign the bill or allow it to become law without her signature to follow through with her long-standing philosophy of allowing the counties to make their own decisions.

"Her complaints have nothing to do with rail transit," Abercrombie said after the rally. "It has everything to do with politics."

He said her concerns about who will collect the tax is an "administrative problem" that can easily be remedied after the bill goes into law.

Lingle did not respond directly to Abercrombie's comments, only saying, "I am avoiding politicizing this issue because it has always been an issue of home rule to me. I don't want to get into disagreements with other politicians."

Opponents of the tax increase also showed up yesterday for the Council vote, including Darci Evans of Charley's Taxi, who called rail a "darn expensive" transportation alternative. "Maybe we should just go dig a hole somewhere and start throwing money down the pit, because essentially it's the same thing," she testified.