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Isle GOP PHILADELPHIA -- Looking ahead to today's speeches that are expected to focus on tax relief and Social Security, state Republican Chairwoman Linda Lingle said local GOP candidates also will have a tax relief proposal.
to push tax
relief proposal
The delegation will focus
Daisy Smith has been attending since 1940
on eliminating the tax on
food and medical needsBy Craig Gima
Star-Bulletin"I would say all of our (state) candidates are going to run on the need to eliminate that 4 percent tax on food, residential rent and medical services," Lingle said.
"They are going to hold their Democrat opponents accountable on this."
State Democratic Party Chairman Walter Heen responded that Democrats will consider a tax cut, but points out the Legislature just passed two tax cuts already.
"If they're going to do that (cut taxes further) they'd better come up with some other source of revenue to fund the state," Heen continued.
He said government has been cut to the bone and people who need government help are suffering because services are not available.
Last night at the Republican National Convention, Sen John McCain (R, Ariz.) gave what alternate delegate Thomas White called a "melancholy" address giving his support to his former primary election opponent George W. Bush.
"It was a very thoughtful address to everybody to say its time to work together to win," White said.
"McCain was a real good soldier," said delegation leader Rep. Barbara Marumoto. "It was really magnanimous for him to come on board and support George Bush."
Last night's theme was on defense and foreign policy.
Delegates liked what they heard from Bush foreign policy advisor Condoleezza Rice about free trade and building a missile defense system for the United States.
"That is a Republican principle to ensure a strong defense.," Lingle said, adding that a strong military will benefit Hawaii's economy.
Delegate Kate Zhou, a University of Hawaii political science professor who was born in China, said building a missile defense system might hurt U.S. relations with China and Russia.
"China might use the speech to create a kind of anti-Americanism," she said.
Zhou was hoping to hear specifics from Rice about China and Taiwan policy, but she liked what she heard about free trade and was impressed with her overall performance.
"She's smart and articulate," Zhou said.
Rice is mentioned as a possible National Security Advisor or Secretary of State in a Bush Administration.
Other speakers, such as retired Gen. Colin Powell, are also mentioned as cabinet possibilities.
Delegates yesterday also heard from Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, who may become Secretary of the Interior if Bush is elected.
"The talent that's available to the Republicans in a Bush administration, I think, is exceptional," said Hawaii National Committeewoman Miriam Hellreich.
Some delegates were delayed getting to the convention last night because of protests that shut down several streets in Philadelphia.
But only a few members of the delegation reported any problems.
"They stopped our bus yesterday. They tied up our bus," said Daisy Smith, a delegation guest from the Big Island.
All of the delegation members praised the police who are everywhere in this city.
"Philadelphia is not going to be Seattle. That seems to be their message," Fox said.
The first speaker last night was Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), who is an openly gay Republican congressman. Kolbe talked about international trade.
His speech did not generate much reaction among the Hawaii delegates, including former Save Traditional Marriage leader Janice Pechauer. Most of the delegates were still settling in their seats when Kolbe began speaking.
PHILADELPHIA -- Ask Hawaii delegation guest and Big Island resident Daisy Smith, 89, about the first Republican National Convention she attended and she tries to remember. GOP to honor
guest from HiloBy Craig Gima
Star-Bulletin"Who was that fellow who ran against Roosevelt?" she asks.
Smith grew up in Philadelphia and was here when Wendell Willkie was nominated to run against Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940. She said she also attended the 1948 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia in 1948, the last time the GOP met here and the first televised convention, when Thomas E. Dewey got the Republican nomination to run against Harry Truman.
Smith says she has attended every Republican convention since.
Smith moved to Hilo in 1964 from Illinois with her husband. She now lives in Hawaiian Beaches and has always been active in the Republican Party. "My parents were staunch Republicans."
Tonight, the delegation will bring Smith onto the floor as a special honor for her.
On the Big Island, Smith has been a precinct captain and president of the Hilo Republican League.
She is also a proud member of the ILWU, because she worked in the dining room at the Naniloa Hotel for 10 years, from 1968 to 1978. She still is an aloha ambassador for the hotel, greeting cruise ships when they come into port.
"I ask them how they like Hilo and if they are going to come back. Then I give them brochures of the Naniloa," Smith said.
Her favorite president is Ronald Reagan, whom she met when he stayed at the hotel.
She also met Richard Nixon at the hotel.
"I got to know the Reagans real well," she says.
Reagan used to send her a birthday card every year, she says.
"His birthday is the 9th of January and mine is the 8th of January."
Smith still likes to sing karaoke for fun.
"My favorite song is 'I Did It My Way,'" she says. "They say I'm better than Frank Sinatra."
