From residents unhappy
with government's performance
emerges a strong sentiment:
Incumbents beware

By Pat Omandam
Star-Bulletin

A majority of Hawaii voters says Gov. Ben Cayetano and the state Legislature have neither the vision nor leadership to boost the state's stagnant economy.

And the Honolulu Star-Bulletin/NBC Hawaii News 8 Poll shows that 60 percent of the respondents believe the economic revitalization actions taken by this year's Legislature will be of little or no help to the economy.

If the 1998 elections were held today, only 33 percent of respondents said they would re-elect their incumbent politicians.

"I don't plan on voting for any incumbent," said Marjorie Hills, a Makakilo resident whose district is represented by state Sen. Brian Kanno (D, Ewa Beach-Kapolei) and state Rep. Mark Moses (R, Makakilo-Kunia).

"What did we get accomplished this time? I don't see anything major that we got accomplished with all of the issues that are out there, particularly in education," said Hills, a foster mother with 11 children.

The poll was conducted May 29 to June 3 by Mason-Dixon Political/MediaResearch of Columbia, Md. It surveyed 439 registered voters statewide by telephone, and the margin of error is plus or minus 5 percentage points.

About 57 percent of the respondents said Cayetano has no clear vision to boost the economy, compared with the 29 percent who believed he did. The rest were unsure.

When asked if the state Legislature provided the leadership needed to jump-start the economy, 58 percent said it did not. Only 13 percent said it did.

One reason for the skepticism: There continues to be too much talk from lawmakers and not enough action, says R. Okazaki, a Hawaii Kai resident and recently laid off from her private industry job.

"I think our Legislature as a whole does a lot of studies, spends a lot of money on things like economic revitalization, but they don't take those suggestions (seriously)," said the 29-year-old, who declined to use her full first name.

"That's why we're still stagnant and not growing as fast as we can. That, and the fact that we pay them too much for doing nothing," she said.

The economy

Another question showed that 33 percent of the respondents believe Cayetano is responsible for the poor economy. The state Legislature was blamed by 23 percent, and 19 percent blamed former Gov. John Waihee.

And 11 percent blamed Hawaii's public worker unions for the economy.

Incumbents

Two-thirds of the respondents said they would consider voting out incumbents if the 1998 elections were held today.

Poll results show only 33 percent would re-elect their lawmakers, compared with the 36 percent who would consider other candidates and the 29 percent who would vote to replace their incumbents. About 2 percent were unsure of how they would vote.

George Hall, 72, a semiretired consultant in the propane industry, said he'd consider voting for other candidates just to keep lawmakers on their toes.

"Because so many of them have been in power so long, I think they get a little complacent; they feel like they've got the job forever," Hall said.

"I think its good to get some new blood in there and new thinking. I feel that way on a national basis as well as a local basis," he said.

Grading the Legislature

Cayetano recently gave the Legislature a grade of B+ for its work.

Respondents, however, weren't as generous.

Only 2 percent gave the Legislature an A grade, while 24 percent failed it.

About 21 percent gave state lawmakers a B, while 25 percent said they did average work. About 27 percent believed they deserved a below-average D grade, which is what Hills gave the group.

"Only because I'm a very gracious person I'll give them a D-. And I'm leaning toward an F," she said.

The poll also revealed that 67 percent of those polled felt the Legislature didn't go far enough to downsize government.

But 54 percent said government can do something to help Hawaii's economy rebound.