DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM At a Tax Foundation of Hawaii luncheon at the Royal Hawaiian yesterday, gubernatorial candidate Ed Case asked the audience if anyone would pass a calculator on to Linda Lingle.

Candidates tackle
state finances

Gubernatorial hopefuls propose
a lottery and cutting state programs

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By Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.com

D.G. "Andy" Anderson and Rep. Ed Case, two of the three major Democratic candidates for governor, say Hawaii is edging toward bankruptcy.

"The short-term goal of my administration has to be to stabilize the state budget," Case said.

Case, Anderson, Democratic Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono and Republican John Carroll appeared yesterday before a Tax Foundation of Hawaii luncheon at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

GOP front-runner Linda Lingle did not attend the forum. Campaign officials said she was campaigning on the Big Island yesterday.

Case (D, Manoa) said the state will have to look at what programs it can change so they don't cost the state extra money. And example, he said, would be many of the nonessential adult education programs.

"Should those resources be taken and allocated to the classroom? I think the answer is yes," Case said. "Should we want to continue the program, I think the programs have to be on a pay-as-you-go basis."

Hirono, who did not paint as gloomy an economic picture as Case and Anderson, said the state should audit the Department of Education to find more money and make the University of Hawaii more self-supporting.

"We need to know where the money is going -- that is why we need a program audit of the Department of Education," Hirono said.

Anderson, a former GOP state legislator and candidate for governor who is now running as a Democrat, said the state is "for all practical purposes bankrupt." But instead of urging budget cuts, he said he has another plan.

"You can't have mass layoffs to balance the budget. ... That is why I am proposing a lottery, the Pineapple Lottery, to help education," Anderson said.

He acknowledged that his lottery proposal was controversial but said it would raise $30 million to $40 million a year to go for education.

Critics such as the Hawaii Coalition Against Legalized Gambling said a lottery would not increase the total amount of money spent on education and would result in poor people wasting money on gambling.

Anderson, however, said the lottery could be designed to require the state to put increasingly more money into the school budget until the state reaches the top 33 percent in school funding in the nation.

Also appearing was former legislator, airline pilot and attorney John Carroll, who wanted to cut taxes by changing the excise tax to a flat sales tax and eliminating the corporate income tax.