Lingle has newfound Capitol wisdom says there are two things you should avoid watching -- making sausages and making laws.
respect for Legislature
The new governor says she
has learned that making
laws is a fluid processBy Bruce Dunford
Associated Press
Gov. Linda Lingle admits that in witnessing the lawmaking process at the state level, she's learning it's a very fluid situation.
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"The one thing I've learned ... is that the Legislature is a process," she said. "It's not what happens on one day in one committee or what one legislator says after one floor discussion. It's an ongoing process. Things you think have no chance of passing all of a sudden pop up later on. Things you thought were smooth and were easy going in the early days all of a sudden drop into a hole down there. ... The expression 'It's not over 'til it's over' really applies at the Legislature."
A case in point was the governor's request that lawmakers expedite approval of $1 million to pay for her office's operations through the end of the fiscal year, June 30. After the House passed a bill cutting the amount in half, Republican Lingle called the action "childish."
The Senate on Friday approved the emergency measure, restoring much of the original request.
"Let's hope that as she learns more about the legislative process, that it gets less confrontational between the Legislature and the administration," said Senate President Robert Bunda. "I know that the governor's a quick learner and she understands relationships."
House Majority Leader Scott Saiki said Lingle appears to be making a concerted effort to establish a personal relationship with lawmakers.
"We have 76 members of the Legislature and everybody has a distinct personality and philosophy," said Saiki, D-Moiliili-McCully. "What doesn't help is when she calls us name in the media -- i.e. 'childish.'"
The governor said she's careful these days not to declare an intention to veto certain legislative proposals or to criticize lawmakers when her pet bills appear doomed.
"You can see certain issues -- for instance, the local school boards -- which people said had no chance just a couple of weeks ago, and now you have the Senate education chairman saying: 'You know what? I'm kind of supporting putting it in the ballot and letting the people decide,'" Lingle said.
"I'm reminded every day it's a process much different than what we're used to at the county level," the former two-term mayor of Maui County said during a meeting last week with The Associated Press and member newspapers.
"There was one legislative body (on Maui) and what action they take is the action you have. And you get that bill in a couple of weeks and you have to decide whether you are going to veto it or not. It's much different here."
Saiki said he believes Lingle is also learning about how campaign promises can slam head on into reality.
"Those of us who returned this year knew that the fiscal problems were going to be in some cases insurmountable and that's why we said during the campaign that we could not make big promises," Saiki said. "And I think the governor is realizing that what we said was true."
Lingle agreed. "One of the toughest things about being a politician who wins a race is to keep your promises when conditions change," she said.
She noted that during her campaign she strongly supported the state's tax credits for high-tech enterprises. But those credits now are being blamed for causing a substantial drain on already-scarce general fund revenues, and her administration has proposed measures to curb the bleeding.
"That certainly wasn't what I expected to happen with these tax credits, so your alternative as a government leader at that point is to stick with your promise knowing it's hurting the people in the state just so you can say later 'I stuck with my promise,' or telling the people 'I learned new information and I'm making adjustments.'"
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