Mayor's idea to charge
job applicants is crazy

Say what? The city wants to recruit 360 badly needed police officers - and make them and other job applicants pay up to $35 apiece for the privilege of taking the civil service exam?

Has Mayor Harris gone off the deep end, or is this proposal a stupid trial balloon? Filling job openings through advertising, recruitment drives, and written and physical exams is a cost borne by business, not job applicants.

This idiocy must die a fast death before Honolulu becomes the laughing stock of the nation.

Lynne Matusow
(Via the Internet)

Cayetano, pro and con

Two mayors would do
a better job than governor

It is not surprising at all that "Cayetano is losing voters' respect," as your Feb. 24 front-page article points out. Ben Cayetano's administration has been the worst thing to hit this state since the Gulf War recession.

What is really amazing is that 75 percent of those polled actually think that Cayetano's performance has been good or fair. Wake up, Hawaii! We deserve better - lots better!

With two county mayors who are both pretty good administrators interested in the job, Ben Cayetano will need a lot more than a new PR staff to make him look good.

Nani K. Park

Ben Cayetano has proved
to be students' best friend

During the recent negotiations of the teachers' contract, Governor Cayetano demonstrated his strong leadership and his commitment to education by insisting that more days be added to the school year.

He is the first governor to make a significant change in the structure of education by extending the instructional time for Hawaii's children.

We should continue to support the governor as he continues to support education!

Dawn Hirai

State officials are stingy
about sharing information

We take issue with Governor Cayetano's remarks as reported on Feb. 26: that it is acceptable for people to disagree with him "if it is done with the full knowledge of the facts." If this is the criteria, then 95 percent of citizens would have to disqualify themselves.

People like the governor, who have held office for a long time, have forgotten what it is like to be an ordinary citizen who is lucky to obtain a reply, let alone "full knowledge of the facts," when dealing with a state agency.

Even government employees and legislators have had difficulty with this. Witness Cayetano as a lieutenant governor trying to obtain information from the elusive Employees' Retirement System.

Government has never taken a proactive approach to decide what information about government is necessary to inform citizens in a late 20th- century democracy. Information is supplied on a reactive basis; it is like pulling teeth to get at the facts.

Desmond Byrne
Chairman, Common Cause Hawaii

Contrary to any poll,
governor has support

Governor Cayetano's 23 percent disapproval rating cited in your Feb. 24 issue is misleading because nowhere in the article is the actual percentage of voters who approve of the governor.

After living on the mainland and working on behalf of several auto insurance companies, it is refreshing to see a governor who is willing to go toe-to-toe with auto insurance companies.

Hawaii drivers have been ripped off by no-fault insurance. "No fault" really means "no pay." Cayetano is one of the few public servants willing to stand up for Hawaii citizens and to realize that the entire premise of the no-fault law - lower premiums - has been a failure from the start.

I hope your newspaper is not trying to pander to the 23 percent (plus or minus 5 percent) identified by your mainland pollsters. If you check a little closer, you'll find solid support for Governor Cayetano.

Robert E. Rapp

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