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Gov earns praise They were touched but not moved.
for final address
Legislators still differ on a budget
plan but are touched
by Cayetano's emotionsCayetano's legacy will be measured
by his work on education, officials say» The State Of The State Address
By Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.comGov. Ben Cayetano delivered his last State of the State address yesterday to legislators and won unanimous applause from Republicans and Democrats, who called it the finest speech they have heard the governor give.
"The delivery was far and away the best speech I have ever seen him give, very clearly he gave it from the heart and I don't question for a minute his sincerity," Rep. Galen Fox (R, Waikiki), GOP leader, said.
Lawmakers, however, did not change their positions on how to balance the state budget, which is out of kilter by $350 million, by raiding the hurricane relief fund, increasing liquor taxes or increasing construction spending to spur the economy, issues that Cayetano supported. Instead they held firm to their own budget plans and praised the sincerity of Cayetano the political leader.
In the last 10 minutes of his speech, Cayetano, obviously emotionally touched by the moment, halted several times, his eyes welling up as he talked about his beginnings in Kalihi, where he nearly dropped out of Farrington High School. He finished with a strong call for public service and for doing right.
"Let's discuss the issues frankly and truthfully so the people know what's at stake," Cayetano said.
"We owe them the truth. We owe them the courage and wisdom to make wise decisions. We owe them hope.
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"We owe them a better and greater Hawaii," Cayetano said.Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, who has served with Cayetano during both his terms as governor, said legislators got "a glimpse of his more emotional side, the more human side."
Former Gov. John Waihee, who gave his own outgoing speech eight years ago, said the final address is a time of high emotion.
"It is a very moving moment: You have been working with these people, fighting with these people and no matter what your differences, you have come to some common understanding, and everyone in the room acknowledges that," Waihee said.
Some breathed a sigh of relief. Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, (D, Waianae) said that while Cayetano "took a humorous jab" at them, he gave a lot less than what lawmakers were expecting.
"I think a lot of us thought it was going to be a lot worse," she said.
Because economic recessions served as bookends for Cayetano's eight years in office, many in the audience yesterday felt the 62-year old governor was working as hard as he could.
Clayton Hee, Office of Hawaiian Affairs chairman and a close friend of Cayetano's, said the governor's terms were "the roughest in the history of the state."
"People in elected office, it's very difficult to appear to be successful without money. And the economy has been in the tank from when he began, then it started to get out, and then Sept. 11 put it right back in the tank," Hee said.
Despite the emotional bonds forged yesterday, legislators were still cool to Cayetano's call to take the $213 million from the Hurricane Relief Fund to help balance the budget. Senate President Robert Bunda predicted that the best compromise Cayetano should expect would be for the Legislature to use the hurricane money as collateral to sell bonds for construction projects.
"We can't pass his budget without any modifications," Bunda warned.
Star-Bulletin writer Pat Omandam contributed to this report.
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Gov. Ben Cayetano's legacy will be a better education system because he has built and modernized the schools, educators, school board officials and legislators agree. Cayetano's legacy will be measured
by his work on education, officials sayBy Pat Omandam and Crystal Kua
pomandam@starbulletin.com
ckua@starbulletin.comBoard of Education Chairman Herbert Watanabe has no qualms about giving Cayetano the title of "education governor" not only because of the school construction but because Cayetano shielded the Department of Education from earlier budget cutbacks.
And Cayetano has won kudos for proposing the University of Hawaii-West Oahu campus to turn Kapolei into a college town much like Irvine, Calif.
"I think the governor planted some seeds. It's slowly flourishing," House Education Chairman Ken Ito (D, Kaneohe) said.
For the public school system, Cayetano's mark will be left on the new schools that were built and the classrooms that were renovated while he was in office.
"For too long we have just accepted the poor conditions and I think governor has set the vision that he wants the capital improvement fund increased in order to build better schools in order to improve our schools," said Karen Ginoza, president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association.
Watanabe noted that the governor showed pride in new schools while at the same time recognizing that older schools need to be maintained.
"You just don't build new ones, you have to take care of the old," Watanabe said.
Ito said the infrastructure created by the governor, who boasted of building more schools than any other governor, will have a long-lasting impact on students' education.
"By creating the facilities, modernizing the facilities, the high-tech, kids will benefit. They are going to be beneficiaries of those new equipment and supplies," Ito said.
"Over the years in watching him and the money that was given to us, it went with the times. When the times were good, we got more money, when times were down, we took a cut but others took a bigger cut than we did," Watanabe said.
But Ginoza said she is "saddened" that the education budget won't be spared the ax this time around, with potential cuts totaling $21 million, because of its impact on the classroom and on accountability.
While Cayetano's actions in terms of funding education has shown his support for public education, teachers have been "unhappy" with the governor's rhetoric about them, Ginoza said.
"Every time he's raised the issue of teachers, teachers have felt unappreciated," Ginoza said.
As a result, Cayetano played a role in teachers becoming more politically active in that "our teachers look at politics very cautiously, they want to be ensured that whatever political decision we make has their involvement," Ginoza said.
Two rounds of rocky contract negotiations with the teachers union along with last year's statewide teachers' strike has left a bitter taste with teachers.
Cayetano urged lawmakers this session to authorize $142 million needed to build a permanent West Oahu campus to serve the booming Leeward and Central Oahu communities.
University of Hawaii President Evan Dobelle likes what he's hearing.
"This is an opportunity for 68,000 students to be captured, if you will, where they work, where they live in Kapolei," said Dobelle, following Gov. Ben Cayetano's State of the State address yesterday.
"In very short order, this will be an institution of the very, very first rank," Dobelle said.
He said UH is the intellectual heart of the community, but it is also an important driver to the state economy. Cayetano added UH-Manoa can't be all things to all people. Instead, it must "step up to the next higher level" and raise admission standards for freshmen and provide good alternatives to those who can't make it to UH-Manoa.
"Nothing can elevate the quality of life in a society like a first-rate education system," the governor said.
"Hawaii is not quite there yet. We can get there if we dream big and do big things. After all, nothing has ever been done by people who think small," Cayetano said.