Lingle seeks
funds to bolster
administration staff
The administration of Gov. Linda Lingle wants more than $320,000 added to its budget for the next fiscal year -- most of it to hire a permanent Cabinet-level policy adviser and fill five clerical positions needed because of the fight against illegal drugs.
The Cabinet post would pay $90,000 a year. About $130,000 would cover the clerical positions in Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona's office.
Requests from Aiona and Lingle were presented earlier this week to the House Finance Committee.
Other requests include $92,000 to pay Hawaii's dues for the National Governors Association and the Pacific Basin Development Council, and $9,070 that would increase the salary of the deputy policy adviser to $75,000 a year.
Both legislative money committees have heard this week from agencies seeking additional funds in the second year of the $7.5 billion biannual budget passed last year. Additional funding for the fiscal year starting July 1 would add to the budget.
Lingle's office is requesting money to permanently establish the position of senior policy adviser. The job was held last year by University of Hawaii law professor Randy Roth, who was on loan and paid by the university.
Roth is being replaced by Linda Smith, a businesswoman who served as Honolulu's finance director during the 1980s.
"The senior policy adviser is an essential position that works with the governor in identifying and developing policy positions on a broad spectrum of state issues," Bob Awana, Lingle's chief of staff, told the House Finance Committee.
The job of deputy policy adviser was held by former state economist Pearl Imada Iboshi, who was on loan from the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.
Iboshi has since returned to the economic agency and been succeeded by the governor's deputy chief of staff, Melanie Chinen, said Lingle spokesman Russell Pang.
Aiona's request would increase the number of his staff to 14. The new jobs would include four administrative assistant jobs, each funded at $24,000 a year, and one executive assistant position at $33,500 annually.
Though he praised the staff's effort to keep up with the additional demands placed on it in the past year, the lack of manpower "hindered our ability to do more," said Robert Piper, Aiona's deputy chief of staff.
Among the most high-profile tasks being undertaken by Aiona's office is the state's fight against illegal drugs, particularly crystal methamphetamine.
Last year, the lieutenant governor held a series of "talk story" sessions to gather input from communities about the drug problem. The year-long effort culminated in September with the first statewide drug summit.