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Akaka bill should
survive Kyl attack

THE ISSUE Republican Sen. John Kyl of Arizona has said the Hawaiian recognition bill would create a race-based government that could lead to Hawaii's secession from the union.

THE leading Senate adversary to Hawaiian recognition has launched a misleading assault on the bill as it nears consideration in Congress. Governor Lingle and Hawaii's congressional delegation face a difficult challenge in attaining Senate approval of the bill over Republican opposition.

In a 13-page report under the auspices of the Senate's Republican Policy Committee, of which he is chairman, Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., describes the Hawaiian sovereignty bill sponsored by Senator Akaka as "a racial spoils system." Kyl questions whether it could survive a constitutional challenge, ignoring the U.S. Supreme Court's past recognition of the plenary, or absolute, authority of Congress to deal with indigenous peoples.

Kyl put a hold on the Akaka bill in the last session of Congress but agreed to stand aside after Akaka and Senator Inouye threatened to torpedo a bill dear to Kyl by attaching the recognition measure to it. A Senate vote has been assured by Aug. 7 but could come in July.

The thrust of Kyl's opposition is that the bill would create an entity, similar to Indian tribes, comprised of anyone who is a "direct lineal descendent of the aboriginal, indigenous, native people" who lived in the Hawaii islands before 1893, the year of the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom.

He points out that the kingdom was multiracial, but the bill's recognition is limited to those with Hawaiian blood. Authors of the bill could have avoided the charge by including all descendants of the pre-1893 inhabitants of the islands.

Kyl's alarm that the bill "provides vehicles for its citizens to secede from the union" is preposterous. The few Hawaiians who seek total independence from America are opposed to the Akaka bill. His basis comes from an ill-advised assertion on the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Web site pandering to those extremists.

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Conveyance tax OK
gives Lingle leverage

THE ISSUE The governor set aside her party's advice in approving the measure that increases the tax on real property transactions.

ASTUTE politicians see the difference between rigid campaign pledges and real-life gains, and recognize the wisdom of compromise. Governor Lingle is one of them.

Her signing into law a bill that increases the tax on real property transactions gives the Republican governor good leverage toward reaching her goal of reducing taxes.

As confusing as this may sound, Lingle's approval of the measure gives her part of what she and the Democrat-dominated state Legislature wanted; that is, a boost in funds for affordable rental housing. Two other parts -- 10 percent of revenue gains for land conservation, 25 percent for watershed and natural reserves protection -- she doesn't object to since she sees them as aids to the well being of two of the state's key economic interests, tourism and agriculture.

The final element is what disturbs the governor. It sends the biggest slice -- 35 percent of the conveyance tax increase -- to the general fund, the universal reservoir from which lawmakers disburse money.

Lingle wants to return 10 times this amount to taxpayers and will push legislators, either in a special session should one be called this summer or next year, to get this done. Her consent on the bill allows her to declare a win for the acceptable components, then put heat on lawmakers to enact the cuts to achieve her objective.

The governor appears to acknowledge that the give and take of politics need not be acrimonious, that if the end results benefit people, there are no losers. She seems to know when to roll 'em and when to fold 'em. Though she passed over the advice of Republican lawmakers to reject the bill, Lingle recognizes that intractability leads only to stagnation.

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