[ OUR OPINION ]
Lingle histrionics go
with incumbent territoryGOVERNOR Lingle's ability to project a positive image through the media is bothering Democrats, who claim she already is campaigning for re-election through staged television appearances. Media exposure is simply one of the important elements of incumbency, and the governor's opponents are not accustomed to that advantage being held by a Hawaii Republican.
THE ISSUE
Democrats are grumbling about the choreographed public-relations operation of the Lingle administration.
Lingle, who was publisher of a small Maui newspaper for a short time, recognizes the importance of the media in politics. She put Lenny Klompus, a sports promoter with nearly 30 years of experience in marketing, in charge of her communications. Providing photo opportunities to TV cameramen has become a daily affair.
"Whether it's a '100-Day Cake Celebration' or inviting press to watch the governor put on a military helmet and fire rounds, this administration moves from one gimmicky photo op to the next," Jackie Kido, former Gov. Ben Cayetano's communications director, complained to the Star-Bulletin's Richard Borreca. "It's the campaign that never ends."
(Military helmets are not politically stylish. The ridiculous image of Michael Dukakis donning a helmet while riding in a tank contributed mightily to his failed 1988 presidential race. President Bush was careful to take off his flight helmet before addressing sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln.)
Klompus was criticized for arranging for the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau to pay air fare for KITV to travel with Lingle on a Japan trip to promote tourism. KITV has since said it will compensate the state, but state officials have been unable to distinguish the inappropriate freebie offer from junkets provided to magazine travel writers. Local coverage of Lingle's trip did nothing to promote Hawaii tourism. "I guess I missed that class," Klompus says.
Responsible journalists are leery of being fed endless photo ops and sound bites delivered through a system with tight controls on who can speak for the government. They resent being seen as fawning enablers of political spin doctors, and any suggestion that they are being manipulated should raise their radar.
Lingle maintains that any reporters looking past the projected image will find that she was successful in gaining enactment of a statewide procurement program and completing an animal quarantine revision. She says her vetoes of bills to achieve a balanced budget were "tough calls" without political benefit.
Hawaii's Fourth Estate generally has provided balanced coverage of the issues that residents care about. Any indication that the Lingle administration is promoting an image that is skin-deep should motivate the media to dig for substance. If her critics wish to contribute to that effort, the cameras should be there.
