Party affiliation loses influence with voters

Before either political party gets too smug and self-congratulatory, it pays to realize an important fact: People are voting for the candidate and less for the party. This crossover voting is a hopeful sign for the future of Hawaii. Maybe we can begin to work together now.

Carolyn Arnold

Matsunaga is down, but not out of politics

Matt Matsunaga's last TV campaign ad for the 2nd congressional seat was one of desperation. It was unlike him. In the Jan. 2 story in the Star-Bulletin, he referred to Ed Case saying, "We are friends, but just like when you play basketball and step on the court, you play your hardest and I'm sure Ed is playing his hardest, too."

He was saying he is a friend of Ed's, but in the same breath, throwing his friend a blow below the belt. I believe he may have felt some regret in that ad. And I don't think he alone thought of that ad.

Matt's dad, Spark Matsunaga, always kept his campaigning clean. He campaigned on his merits and accomplishments, and tried not to soil his opponent's reputation.

Playing hard is good, but negative campaigning is not.

Matt Matsunaga still has a promising future in politics. His day may come.

Steve Uyehara
Kalaheo, Hawaii

Education plan doesn't address underfunding

Before becoming governor, Linda Lingle wrote four pages in her campaign brochure on Hawaii's public schools -- but failed to mention their serious underfunding. The sad fact is that our public schools usually are 50th of the 50 states in proportion of state revenues for public school funding.

This underfunding is especially damaging for Hawaii where the cost of living is at least 20 percent higher than the national average. An extremely harmful outcome is that about half of all new teachers are uncertified. Children get teachers who are underpaid, courses that lack modern technology and deteriorating classrooms.

A 1998 report from the National Education Association predicted that during the next eight years Hawaii school funding per child will be no better than third lowest in the nation.

School underfunding is linked to low scores of Hawaii students on national Scholastic Aptitude Tests. A 39-state survey of fourth graders by the National Assessment of Education Progress has ranked Hawaii pupils at the very bottom. What is Lingle's solution?

She wants to create seven area school boards. That could harm standard funding, teacher certification, policies, curricula, courses and textbooks. With her four boards on Oahu, students who move a few blocks might end up in incompatible educational programs.

Lingle's proposed policy for schools ignores huge money deficiencies and ends a fairly uniform and equal educational system for all of its students.

Jerome Manis

Djou has right idea about budget deficit

When it comes to the city deficit, City Council chairman Gary Okino and Councilman Charles Djou clearly come at the problem from different directions. It is apparent that Okino is attempting to preserve the high cost of government by raising taxes and user fees to cover the cost of business as usual, which is the classic Democratic approach. But Djou has a fresh business perspective, which simply says conform your budget to your ability to pay.

Governor Lingle was propelled into office on a platform of change, and I believe that Djou is calling for change in this same way. It is clear that the city must become leaner and more efficient. City core priorities need to be analyzed and possibly realigned within the budget constraints, and the city must begin privatizing to reduce costs where it can.

With the recent increase in property values some homes have doubled in value. Revenues from real property taxes will surely increase significantly in 2003. These new monies need to be spent wisely.

Also, there are community activities that private enterprise can assume and possible do better. For instance, in the early '80s, Mayor Eileen Anderson asked Ed Greene and me -- we owned Jameson's Harbor Grill at the corner of Nuuanu and Merchant streets (now Murphy's) -- if we could do something to breathe life into downtown after dark. With a little assistance from the city Parks Department, we kicked off a series of downtown block parties (100 of them during the next 10 years) that kept workers in town after work. It worked, and it cost the city government very little.

I have great confidence in this new City Council, especially with the outspoken and adroit Charles Djou on board.

Bob Hampton
President
Waikiki Beach Activities

Going to war over oil can't be justified

Months ago many U.S. citizens with a balanced view of world affairs could see that President Bush was using the issue of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to go to war to control oil. There have even been news reports concerning how the war would produce windfall profits for U.S. oil companies. Bush supporters responded that these were unpatriotic things to say.

But after North Korea demonstrated that it is reassembling weapons of mass destruction without any substantial response from Bush, while he was amassing U.S. troops to attack Iraq, where no evidence of weapons of mass destruction exists, it tends to support the conclusion that the real target in Iraq is oil.

So how do Bush supporters respond now? Columnist Thomas Friedman says since Saddam is an evil guy with a hold on the oil we need, that he has no problem with a war for oil -- if we accompany it with a real program for energy conservation. That's like saying it's OK to rob a bank if we promise to budget our finances afterwards. It's a bad precedent. Suppose China decided to expand its holdings of tourist destinations and chose to acquire a tropical paradise called Hawaii?

Smoky Guerrero
Mililani

Elderly would welcome ban on fireworks

Thank you for writing the Jan. 3 editorial "Snuff out danger with fireworks ban." Elderly people like me must go through this year after year on New Year's Eve. Many cannot afford a hotel room to get away from the smoke.

Newspapers should publicize the penalties from playing with illegal fireworks and list the past fatalities and injuries caused by fireworks, such as the 80-year-old woman and the young girl who lost her eyesight from sparklers.

G. Harade
Kaneohe

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