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To Our Readers
WHEN we reported last Tuesday that our four county mayors logged enough air miles to circle the world eight times last year -- averaging twice around the globe each -- knees jerked predictably. Mayors should be
globetrottersFor example, a Kauai councilman said Mayor Maryanne Kusaka had no business attending tourism trade shows at taxpayer expense -- including one in Paris -- when there were professional tourism experts already on the payroll to do the job. Ira Rohter, a UH professor of political science (who happens also to be chairman of the Green Party), asked, "What is the mayor doing there and how is that directly connected to the mayor's government activity?"
Both of these guys have their own political axes to grind, of course, but the mayors didn't help make a political case for their itineraries. Mayoral staffs -- with the exception of Maui's -- dragged their feet unduly when asked for lists of official travel out of state.
Months passed before Kauai County produced a summary for the newspaper, accompanied by a bill for $145 worth of staff time spent researching this public record. So much for accountability!
Jeanne Schultz, Campbell Estate's marketing manager, chided the newspaper for what she considered a negative story about mayoral wanderlust. In this age of global markets and worldwide competition, getting our elected leaders out into the world is a good thing, she says. "We need to get Hawaii on the radar screen...Nobody sees Hawaii as a place to do business."
I agree, wholeheartedly. We need ambassadors to communicate our competitive advantages to the world. Schultz lists these: an excellent telecommunications infrastructure; a business day that overlaps New York's, Singapore's and even Bangalore's; significantly lower costs than many cities; a diverse, multi-lingual workforce; generous new state tax incentives for start-up and high-tech companies; an incomparable climate; and superb quality of life.
Our mayors shouldn't be our only ambassadors, but as elected chief executives they should look for opportunities to pitch Hawaii's virtues globally.
Acting guilty isn't the way to win public support, however.
John Flanagan is editor and publisher of the Star-Bulletin.
To reach him call 525-8612, fax to 523-8509, send
e-mail to publisher@starbulletin.com or write to
P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802.