Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge is "very open" to locating some of his operations in Hawaii, including creation of a homeland security headquarters in Honolulu for the U.S. Pacific territories, Gov. Linda Lingle said. Ridge ‘open’ to putting
homeland bureau in stateAssociated Press
In a meeting with Ridge, Lingle said, they discussed the uniqueness of Hawaii and homeland security, she said.
They also discussed "locating some of the assets in Hawaii," she said, perhaps personnel and research. "He was very open," she said.
Ridge toured Oahu when he was in Honolulu for a Republican Party fund-raiser in June 2000, said Lingle, who added that the former Pennsylvania governor was very familiar with the island and aware of the importance of Hawaii's ports and harbors.
The governor said she also discussed the relationship between Hawaii and U.S. territories Guam and American Samoa.
Lingle said she asked about the possibility of setting up some sort of a homeland security headquarters in Honolulu for the territories in a letter she left with Ridge.
Lingle also appeared on the CNN program "Inside Politics" yesterday, in an interview in which she said her administration has spared education in attempts to balance the state budget.
However, education department spokesman Greg Knudsen denied her claim, saying that $3 million has already been slashed this year alone.
The money was cut under Lingle's directive to chop 5 percent from spending of all state departments, Knudsen said.
"We did not cut education funding at all in the state of Hawaii," Lingle said. "It's just that what the previous governor proposed as an increase was not realized in the budget that we submitted."
Lingle's administration cut the $8 million yearly increase for the 2003-2005 education budget submitted by former Gov. Ben Cayetano.
But the department also cut $3 million from this fiscal year, which ends June 30, Knudsen said.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/deptofhomeland/
Office of the Governor