A Nisei war veteran, who participated in Hawaii's political revolution of 1954 and signs himself "Disillusioned Democrat,'' wrote me in disgust that the Legislature "utterly failed to even address, much less remedy, the biggest problem facing Hawaii'' -- the economy. Defending the status quo
Part of the problem, according to "Disillusioned,'' is the resistance of unions to meaningful change and the Legislature's rolling over to labor's demands. "The unions... doggedly and blindly seek to preserve the status quo.''
A good example is the effort by employees to reverse State Librarian Bart Kane's decision to outsource book acquisitions. Facing budget cuts that would have meant closing branches and laying off librarians, Kane creatively decided to almost halve the cost of putting new books on the shelf by contracting with an outside vendor. These savings meant no branch closures, no layoffs.
OK, change isn't easy. Legal problems that delayed installation of a new computer system and performance problems with the book vendor hampered the transition. Still, the branches stayed open and librarians employed.
So, do library employees appreciatively work to smooth the transition and make the new arrangement work or do they try to get Kane fired? You know the answer.
The unasked question: Do we need public libraries at all? Wouldn't it be cheaper to cut our taxes and buy our books at Borders?