Women’s panel Republican Gov. Linda Lingle wants to end the state's $95,000 annual funding of the State of Hawaii Commission on the Status of Women, now directed by a key political ally of Lingle's 2002 election opponent.
may lose funding
Lingle says the commission
could operate by using
its private trust fundBy Bruce Dunford
Associated PressAllicyn Hikida Tasaka performed various roles in 2001 and 2002 as the gubernatorial campaign coordinator and state office spokeswoman for former Democratic Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono.
When asked if there was any connection between the budget action and Tasaka's role in the Hirono campaign, Lingle's spokesman Russell Pang said, "Absolutely not."
Pang said Lingle's proposal follows through on a law passed in 2000, setting up a private charitable trust fund to enable the commission to become financially self-sufficient and weaning it from the state general fund.
"I'm not going to go there," said commission Chairwoman Leslie Wilkins, of Maui, when asked if she felt Lingle's actions were motivated by last year's campaign. The seven-member commission named by the governor hires and fires the executive director.
"If someone else makes that comment, as Allicyn's direct supervisor, I can say she's the consummate professional. She has never used her position for any partisan purpose," Wilkins said.
In a "governor's message" sent Friday to the House and Senate, Lingle said the commission's $95,000 operation costs could come from the commission's trust fund instead of from state general funds.
It was one of dozens of detailed adjustments Lingle proposed as lawmakers finalized the $7.6 billion, two-year state general fund budget.
Female lawmakers are trying to rally support from their male colleagues to urge the governor to maintain funding needed by the agency to carry out its duties.
The commission was established by an executive order by Gov. John Burns in 1964 and later was established in state law, most recently attached administratively to the Lieutenant Governor's Office.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a resolution yesterday urging general funding of the agency, whose services it says "are vital to our community and essential to furthering the economic, political and social equality of women in our state."
Committee Chairwoman Colleen Hanabusa (D, Nanakuli-Makua) said the Legislature can provide general funds for the commission's operations, but it would be up to Lingle's administration to release those funds, and that is what the resolution urges.
Hanabusa noted that in 2000, then-Gov. Ben Cayetano proposed cutting the commission's funding to help balance the state budget but later accepted the Legislature's decision to fund it.
A similar House resolution is pending before the Finance Committee.
Wilkins said the $95,000 pays for two employees, including Tasaka, and office space in the State Office Tower.
Whether the commission could authorize use of its $150,000 trust fund for day-to-day operations "is subject to legal interpretation," she said. "If we used it, it would be exhausted quite quickly."
Tasaka did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
State Commission on the Status of Women
