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Honolulu Lite Charles Memminger |
Democrats can’t
stand liking Lingle
The trouble with Gov. Linda Lingle is that she is just no fun. At least, that's the way many Democrats must feel.
CORRECTION
Friday, May 30, 2003» In yesterday's afternoon edition, the "Honolulu Lite" column on Page D1 contained references from an inaccurate story that ran on Page A6 Tuesday. A corrected version of that story appears here.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at corrections@starbulletin.com.Here we have our first Republican governor in 50 years, and instead of doing any of the cliché things Republicans are famous for (taking food from the mouths of babes, pushing old people down stairways, forcing children to work in mines, harvesting organs from the poor and making vaguely critical comments about Yoko Ono), Lingle has developed the annoying habit of being damn near pleasant, fair and capable.
Despite being kicked around by Democratic legislators during the last session, she didn't resort to name-calling or personal attacks as other governors have done. Critics who were ready to savage her for anticipated nasty patrician political wheeling and dealing felt cruelly put upon when she did things like appoint a Democrat to the state Supreme Court. What kind of fun is that?
But the final disappointment for critics expecting a Republican governor to try to turn the calendar back to colonial plantation days is that Lingle failed to stuff her Cabinet full of rich white guys.
With a rainbow of races, economic backgrounds and professional disciplines, Lingle's Cabinet looks alarmingly like a Democratic Party recruitment poster.
NOW, CRITICS WILL say that after 50 years of Democratic Party control, Lingle simply didn't have a deep well of rich, heartless right-wing wackos from which to draw. Because, you know, she's a Republican, and if she could have turned over a rock or two and found a James Watt or David Duke, she would have, right?
But she didn't.
Instead she put together a Cabinet mostly full of people who look like the folks you see in the supermarket or at the park. There are a couple of people who could probably claim to be millionaires, but the majority of her Cabinet are people who had day jobs: attorneys, real estate brokers, teachers, doctors and accountants.
There are people like my buddy Jim Propotnick, a former deputy U.S. marshal, who could be sitting back on his federal retirement after many years of protecting judges and arresting bad guys, but is serving as Lingle's interim Public Safety director. There's Jane Kadohiro, a doctor tapped to become deputy health director. And there is Lillian Koller, who gave up a relatively modest income selling houses to become Human Services director.
It's extremely disappointing that Lingle didn't have the decency to appoint at least one Daddy Warbucks to her Cabinet. If she's not careful, she'll give Republicans a good name.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Charles Memminger, winner of National Society of Newspaper Columnists awards, appears Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. E-mail cmemminger@starbulletin.com
