Governor pushes for
new faces with fresh focus
to serve on school board

In each election, voters are presented with a vast uncharted region on the ballot populated by state Board of Education candidates. With more than a little trepidation, voters dutifully make their choices, hoping the person they selected isn't a member of the Flat Earth Society or worse.

This year Republican Gov. Linda Lingle, who made school reform a hot political issue, is working to elect a school board that backs her views. Supporters at 15 planned rallies around Oahu this summer will be getting something new, a pitch to support five BOE candidates.

Lingle has found candidates for five of the seven slots in the fall elections: Darwin Ching, Shad Kane, Signe Godfrey, Pam Smith and David Adams.

The candidates, Lingle said, are BOE newcomers who agree with her three points for education reform: 90 percent of state funding should reach the individual schools, the limit on the number of charter schools should be removed and voters should be allowed to vote on whether to break up the single statewide school board in favor of local school boards.

Although it might seem odd that all the issues Lingle raises are actually questions that will be settled by the Legislature, not the BOE, Lingle reports that her push is starting to pay off.

"They are very thankful to have the card (with the Lingle slate) because they say they never know who to vote for," Lingle said.

The governor's friend and morning swim partner, Brian Woolford, heads the coordinated effort and has posted a Web page -- www.careforourkids.com. Also Woolford is setting up a political action committee and registering with the Campaign Spending Commission.

Because Lingle is focusing on getting Republicans elected to the state Legislature, Woolford says she asked him and his wife to help with a effort to change the school board.

So far the committee has posted the Internet site and set up a table at a GOP rally. According to state law, the committee can not serve as part of the campaign of an individual candidate, and Woolford said his committee would raise funds and campaign independently of the BOE candidates.

The information, Woolford says, is already appreciated.

"People are thirsty for knowledge on the Board of Education.

"I have been a voter all my life, and I go to the polls being less educated about the BOE races than any other," said Woolford, who is the president of D&D Industries, an office furniture supply firm.

The candidates, while not hand-selected, appear to be hand-screened. Lingle, for instance, says that former Democratic congressman, Cec Heftel, was not on the list because he didn't support the idea of separate or local school boards.

Woolford said all the candidates that he is backing are the ones that "really support her (Lingle's) plan."

Running for the school board as a team is not a new idea, but because the race is nonpartisan, neither political party has gotten involved in an organized way.

This year, Lingle, by wading into both legislative and BOE races, is determined to make her political mark felt through Hawaii's political landscape.