Lingle’s accomplishments
far from being ‘elusive’

Successes of the Lingle-Aiona administration are not elusive at all. Significant progress has been made in many areas, including the top initiatives of reforming public education, battling crime and drugs, strengthening and diversifying the economy, protecting the environment, fulfilling obligations to Hawaiians, increasing affordable housing and providing quality health care for all our residents.

The Star-Bulletin seemed to have bought into the rhetoric of some Democrats who obviously have a bias when it comes to evaluating the work of a Republican governor. For instance, Senate President Robert Bunda (D, Wahiawa, North Shore) dismissed the governor's accomplishments as not being "very substantive at all."

To the contrary, Lingle has a long string of achievements she has accomplished through collaboration. Throughout her political career, she has had to work with a county council or Legislature that was dominated by the opposite party. She has worked closely with officials in both parties to achieve progress in Maui County and now on a statewide basis.

Sen. Bunda also said Lingle "takes credit for a lot of things that the Democrats have come up with in the past, such as stopping animal quarantine."

Lingle might not be the first person to call for updating our animal quarantine regulations or encouraging the use of alternative fuels or confronting the "ice" epidemic or providing health care for needy families. But what separates the governor from her predecessors is that she has actually done something about these issues, as opposed to commissioning studies, talking about possible solutions and ultimately deferring action.

The governor and her administration have done an admirable job of turning the state around by bringing much-needed changes to a government that had been marked for decades by corruption, ineffectiveness, cronyism and a lack of transparency.

Despite the many obstacles in her path, including powerful Democratic leaders with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, Lingle has tallied an impressive list of accomplishments. These include:

The public seems to have a good sense of what Lingle has achieved and wants to achieve, as evidenced by her high approval ratings. The reason? People want progress, and they've seen more progress on key issues in the past two years than ever before.

With the 2005 legislative session just a month away, the governor remains more committed than ever to doing what is pono for all the people of Hawaii.