[ OUR OPINION ]
If women’s commission
is valued, state should fund it
|
If that's the case, Lingle -- the first female governor in Hawaii's history -- should ask the state Legislature to abolish the commission as a policy decision, rather than choking off funds so it cannot function. The first would allow voters and lawmakers to discuss the issue; the second is governing by squeeze play.
Lingle maintains that fiscal prudence is why she wants to slash the commission's current $95,000 budget by more than half and exclude all money for it next year.
Being careful with taxpayer dollars is reasonable. However, at the Republican National Convention earlier this month, Lingle proudly proclaimed that the state's economy "has turned around dramatically" due to her and President Bush's fiscal policies.
If that's so, the commission's tiny share of the state's $4 billion operating budget would hardly plunge government into the red. Indeed, last week's optimistic report from the Council on Revenues forecasts that tax collections will add more than $100 million this fiscal year and that revenues last month totaled $358 million, a 38 percent increase from August 2003.
Suspicions of political retaliation were raised by the agency's executive director Allicyn Tasaka and one of its commissioners, both of whom resigned recently. Tasaka had been a spokeswoman and campaign coordinator for Lingle's gubernatorial opponent, Mazie Hirono. As evidence of bad blood, they say that despite the commission's repeated requests, Lingle has yet to meet with the agency in the two years she's been in office. In addition, she is organizing an international women's conference in November, but has not informed the commission of her plans.
The commission's name belies its mission, which recognizes that the well-being of women is fundamental to the welfare of the state as a whole. The agency's programs and services help children and the elderly and encompass health and social problems as well as employment and civil rights issues, matters that should concern everyone, not just women. As part of its mandate, it has researched and supported legislation to provide family leave, stronger drug enforcement laws, nursing home inspections, curbs on match-making businesses and a host of other measures that benefit all of Hawaii's people.
Although women are supposedly afforded equality, the reality is that second-class conditions remain. Forty-one years after the federal Equal Pay Act, women in Hawaii still earn just 84 cents for every dollar earned by men. This issue alone demonstrates the need for an agency that places women and their needs front and center.
The governor contends that the commission should be weaned from taxpayer funds. She suggests that it raise private money to finance its operations, which would not only be difficult, but could entangle the state in legal problems. Moreover, if the state sets up a government agency, it ought to finance its work. Imagine asking the state auditor, the elections office or the education department to pay their own way.
