DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM
Linda Lingle spoke about considering a proposal by Dr. Terry Shintani to improve the prison system at a news conference yesterday at her campaign headquarters.
Hawaii diet doctor A proposal by a Hawaii diet guru to build a private prison prompted Gov.-elect Linda Lingle to ask Gov. Ben Cayetano to halt negotiations for a new prison.
spurs new approach
on prison plan
Lingle wants a chance
Inauguration events
to look at the proposal
by Dr. Terry ShintaniBy Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.comAt a news conference yesterday, Lingle said she had new information about a prison proposal pushed by Dr. Terry Shintani, co-founder of the Hawaii Health Foundation.
Shintani is creator of the Hawaii Diet, developed to help severely overweight native Hawaiians slim down and control chronic illnesses such as diabetes by returning to ancient eating habits involving whole foods and few meat or dairy products.
"He has a group that is interested in building a private prison in Hawaii. It is a very serious proposal. For those of us interested in the relationship between diet and wellness, it is a fascinating proposal," Lingle said.
Shintani said, "The whole idea is to use diet to help improve the ability of inmates who have substance abuse problems to be more amenable to counseling."
The idea of a privately built prison was first proposed by a team including former Office of Hawaiian Affairs Chairman Clayton Hee, who was a consultant for the California-based Maranatha Corp., which built and runs a prison in California.
"It is a good program, and if we had not run out of time, I think we would have been successful, and it has tremendous potential for both research both nationally and internationally," Hee said.
Senate President Robert Bunda echoed Lingle's request that Cayetano stop negotiating with private developers to build a 1,100-bed prison in Halawa Valley to replace Oahu Community Correctional Center in Kalihi.
"I would leave the negotiations up to the new governor to decide," Bunda said.
"If she wants to use other people, so be it, the timing is too close," Bunda added, noting that Lingle takes over as governor on Dec. 2.
Earlier this week, Lingle and Lt. Gov.-elect James Aiona publicly asked Cayetano and Attorney General Earl Anzai to refrain from committing the state to a multimillion-dollar prison construction contract before he leaves office.
"It's certainly his right," Lingle said yesterday. "He's still the governor. He can do that. We just wanted to make clear what our concerns were.
"We want the people they're negotiating with to know that we're on record being concerned about it, and perhaps that would make them a little more cautious."
Meanwhile, Lingle said her transition team is already working on her own version of the state budget, although she realizes that the first budget sent to the Legislature on Dec. 16 will be one prepared by Gov. Cayetano.
Lingle met yesterday with state schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto and representatives of the Hawaii State Teachers Association. While Lingle called the talks with Hamamoto "very good," she added that it was too soon to say if the state could afford pay raises for public employees.
"It is a dynamic process," Lingle said. The state Council on Revenues' January meeting would be critical to assessing the state's financial condition, she said.
The council estimates the amount of tax revenues the state will collect, and the administration bases its budget on that prediction.
Lingle added that she will ask the Legislature to change the state collective-bargaining laws so that the state hospital system and the four counties will be able to negotiate their own pay rates with public employees.
Lingle said she is heading toward a complete reformatting of the state budget system because the current system has too many unneeded reports.
"We will be implementing a performance-based budget," Lingle said.
"I am still very optimistic about the year ahead, but the budget structure is very weak, in my opinion," Lingle said.
Lingle said she had success as mayor of Maui by designing specific performance goals for the county budget and hoped to do the same thing for the state.
For instance, Lingle said that the state should set a detailed limit on how long it takes between collecting child-support payments and when the money is given to the parent.
"Set very specific measurements, and then work to live up to them," Lingle said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
