Lingle blasts Dems
over veto overridesThe governor says the six
overrides make no sense based
on earlier votes by Democrats
Political. Irrational. Ridiculous.
That's what Gov. Linda Lingle called the state Legislature's override earlier this month of six bills she had vetoed.
Lingle, in her first full day at work yesterday after a week-long tourism promotion trip to Japan, said the nearly partisan voting in last week's special session was clearly political.
"Based on the votes taken, relative to previous votes the Democrats have taken, it was very irrational lawmaking," the governor said.
The action was only the second time since statehood in 1959 that the Legislature overturned a governor's veto. Lawmakers overrode former Gov. Ben Cayetano's veto of an age-of-consent bill in 2001.
Lingle said overriding her veto on a bill that allows the state legislative auditor to conduct and be reimbursed for financial audits of state agencies had to be political because Democrat Cayetano had rejected a similar bill last year, but lawmakers did not override his veto. She said the legislative auditor's task is to do management audits, while the state Department of Accounting & General Services contracts out financial audits.
The governor also said another overridden measure, which would have given $30,000 to the Korean War Commission for the war's 50th anniversary, was not needed because alternative funding sources were found.
Moreover, she said, the state cannot spend money it does not have.
Lingle added that floor speeches on the bill by Democrats that equated fiscal responsibility to lack of patriotism were simply "ridiculous."
Lingle also said it was irrational for lawmakers to enact binding arbitration for public worker unions, especially after a dozen Senate Democrats voted to remove it as an option in labor negotiations two years ago. The only thing that has changed since 2001 was her election as governor, she noted.
Lingle said not having binding arbitration meant taxpayers were not forced into paying mandatory pay raises determined by a third-party arbitrator, which history has shown does not work well for government.
Democrats, however, have said that the binding-arbitration law could allow the state to avoid costly strikes by the Hawaii Government Employees Association.
