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Gathering Place
 By Calvin K.Y. Say |
Republicans shoot first
in war against the truthThe targets have been selected, a record amount of money is on hand for the battle and high technology will play a crucial role in the conflict. For one side, the fight has already begun -- not for a military victory but a political one. As is often the case in war, the first casualty will be the truth.
Republicans are gunning for the House, and with their targets set they are using a misinformation campaign to soften up the enemy. It shouldn't be this way. If we intend to solve our problems on the home front, we need to put away the campaign strategies for a while, stop the name calling, stop the smear tactics and find a way to work together.
This is not an election year, but you wouldn't know that listening to Governor Lingle and House Republican Leader Galen Fox. In January, Lingle called the University of Hawaii president "unprofessional." In March, she used the same word to describe state Librarian Virginia Lowell. A week later, it was the Legislature's turn: We were scolded and told we were "childish."
Now comes Lingle's right-hand man in the House. In a May 6 column he wrote for the Star-Bulletin, Fox says Democrats "insulted President Bush and everyone fighting in Iraq, asking them to give aloha to Saddam Hussein as he continued his torture and killing of Iraqi citizens."
I suppose the fact that this is not true shouldn't bother me. After all, many will dismiss Fox's statement as politics and contend that politicians are simply fair game.
But I don't agree. When the governor attacks the professionalism of our leading educators, and when Republicans use the radio and newspapers to endlessly repeat the same misinformation as if they believe a lie repeated enough will become the truth, the time has come to say, "Enough already."
"Attack dog" politics do not belong in Hawaii.
If you wonder where these distortions might lead, the Republicans seem to have an answer for that, too. In the same column, Fox tries to score a few more political points, but he stepped over the line when he used a Waipahu family's tragic loss to do it. According to Fox, Democrats were beating up on the president while, "Little Mya Williams of Waipahu wiped the tears from her mother's cheeks during a memorial service for her father." Mya's father was killed during the early days of the Iraq war when a man posing as a taxicab driver blew up a bomb.
Once again, Republicans are using a personal tragedy to push forward a political agenda. But they've done it before. Honolulu Police Officer Glen A. Gaspar was shot in the line of duty. Less than a week after his funeral, Republicans tried to use Gaspar's family to advance a "three-strikes" law. Deep in grief, Glen's brother summoned the courage to confront Republicans in the middle of their media event. He asked them to stop using his family's tragedy for political gain.
I mentioned the role technology is playing in the Republican battle -- the reference is to Act 221. The Legislature passed Act 221 in 2001 to assist high-technology companies and start-ups. Act 221 is for young people who want to live and work in Hawaii. But Fox and the governor say Act 221 hurts Hawaii's economy. According to Fox, it puts "business schemers ahead of our children and the elderly."
Fox fails to mention that every statewide business organization in Hawaii opposed the governor's move to water down Act 221: the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise Honolulu, the Business Roundtable, and dozens of technology businesses that are building a future for Hawaii with the help of this legislation.
There is a global race under way right now to capture knowledge-based jobs. Those communities that refuse to enter this race are dooming their citizens to second-class status. Act 221 is the edge we have to win this race.
We are here to create a better future for our children. Elected officials -- regardless of political affiliation -- need to stop playing games and distorting the truth. They need to work together to improve Hawaii.
Enough already.
Calvin K.Y. Say is speaker of the state House of Representatives.