Gov faces dire It was seven years ago that a somber, newly elected Gov. Ben Cayetano gave the state the grim news: The state budget was out of balance by $250 million, programs had to be cut, tax breaks dropped and the entire budget might be slashed.
state outlook
Legislators hope his speech
will offer guidanceBy Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.comNow as Cayetano readies himself for his eighth and last State of the State address, he faces much of the same.
"It's kind of like we're ending up where I started," Cayetano said last week as he began preparing for his address. "I had hoped we'd be able to tell the people how the economy had been improving."
The state budget is projected to have a $350 million shortfall, state programs are still in jeopardy and there are calls for reductions in spending even to the Department of Education.
Tomorrow when Cayetano addresses the Legislature, he will go before a group hoping for leadership in the face of another serious financial crisis.
"I want him to give us some hope. I want him to give us some direction," says Robert Bunda (D, Wahiawa, North Shore), Senate president.
"As a statesman going out of office, he has certainly accumulated some wisdom. He should say what we should be doing."
Rep. Sylvia Luke, House vice speaker, agrees that Cayetano should leave the Legislature with some advice.
>> Gov. Ben Cayetano's speech can be seen live tomorrow on Hawaii's four major network affiliated stations, KITV, KGMB, KHON and KHNL. A joint session of the Legislature will convene at 10 a.m. with the address scheduled to start soon after. State of the State Address
"I would like him to lay out a plan for five or 10 years down the road," said Luke (D, Punchbowl).
Sen. David Matsuura (D, Hilo, Puna) agrees Cayetano should talk about leadership, but he added that Cayetano should be leading his own administration in a call for unity.
"We have tough problems and we need to all work together," Matsuura said. "In health care, for instance, we have too many fragmented programs."
If Cayetano is going to give a speech on unity, he should also help the Democratic Party, said Rep. Joe Souki (D, East Maui).
"He should say that all the Democrats need to come together, so we can weather the storms that are coming -- we have too much at stake," Souki said.
House Speaker Calvin Say, who has served with Govs. George Ariyoshi, John Waihee and Cayetano, gave Cayetano some advice about proposing new programs.
"He should just say, 'Thank you for the opportunity for letting me be your governor for the past eight years,'" said Say (D, Palolo).
"You can propose all these new programs, but when the new administration comes in, everything is going to be scrapped."
Cayetano has had a difficult time with the Legislature. He is the first Democratic governor in Hawaii's history to have a veto overridden and also had the nomination of two cabinet officials rejected.
"I think the governor is who he is, and he is not going to change," Luke said. "We don't expect him to be nicer because it is his last year. He's been pretty gruff the whole time, anyway."
Cayetano laughed off the suggestion he might scold lawmakers in his final address.
"We've done some good things together when it comes to cutting taxes, increased teachers pay, some would say despite them, but we couldn't do it without them giving us the money," he said.
"The Legislature did some good things in reforming the structure of government," he said, pointing to last year's privatization law and restructuring the public employee health fund.
Republicans are sticking to their call for cutting government costs as a recommendation for Cayetano's last speech.
"He has to say we are cutting the budget and not raising any more taxes -- it was crazy of him to include any increase to the liquor tax," said Rep. Barbara Marumoto (R, Wilhelmina Rise).
"As far as his legacy, I think he will get points for cutting taxes -- he went through some tough times."
Rep. Charles Djou (R, Kaneohe) added that Cayetano should also give up on his call to use the Hurricane Relief Fund to balance the budget.
"He should just realize it is not going to be tapped," Djou said.
The Republicans especially, Cayetano said, "have turned it into a crusade to try to refund moneys to people who paid into the fund, but this is an insurance fund. You are not entitled to get it back any more than you are entitled to get back the money you paid HMSA or your auto insurance.
"My statement to the Legislature is: If you don't want to use this, find the money elsewhere," he said, adding that the "elsewhere" includes an 8 percent across-the-board cut in all state spending, including public schools.
Several legislators said Cayetano should point to school construction as a major part of his legacy.
"I would tell him to talk about his support for the schools and what he did to promote a healthy learning environment," said Sen. Carol Fukunaga (D, Manoa, Makiki).
Cayetano, in his first speech in 1995, noted that it took more than five years to build a school in Hawaii, a figure that Department of Education officials now say has been lowered to two or three years.
Cayetano sees this session as a defining moment in Hawaii politics, with all 76 lawmakers' seats coming up for election this fall.
"Maybe the people will kind of judge the legislators individually and not so much by party, because there are legislators on both sides who just play politics and don't get down to brass tacks and do what they are supposed to do," he said. "The people have a way of weeding those people out."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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