After seven years at the helm, Gov. Linda Lingle is still trying to steer a twitchy economy to safety, rebuild an education system that its supporters say is just fine and pump some life into a tourism industry that continues to need government help.

Hawaii's first Republican governor since 1962 addressed the Democratic-dominated Legislature for the last time yesterday with a 35-minute speech that sparked as many questions and jeers as it did cheers.

Lingle returned yesterday to an early theme: reforming education by diluting the power of the single statewide Board of Education. She urged lawmakers to just drop the board and let the governor hire a school superintendent and be responsible for public schools, whose performance she described as “;consistently mediocre.”;

Lingle previously proposed breaking up the board into smaller units, an idea that never moved. The latest idea drew howls of protest.

“;The governor is intentionally perpetuating a false and negative picture of Hawaii's public schools to try to gain support for unproved educational initiatives she proposed today,”; said Garrett Toguchi, school board chairman. “;Gov. Lingle owes an apology to the thousands of dedicated educators and students for blatantly disregarding their accomplishments in the face of declining state support for public education.”;

Defending Lingle was Jonah Kaauwai, Hawaii Republican Party chairman, who said it took the Furlough Friday labor agreement to “;invigorate Hawaii's families and hold union bosses and bureaucratic leadership accountable for their failures.”;

House Speaker Calvin Say noted that the Legislature has spent several years listening to Lingle's proposals to change the school board and has not approved any of them and that there is little likelihood it would change.

In her maiden 2003 State of the State address, Lingle noted that the state economy needed help, and urged tax cuts and reforms to help the poor and spur economic competition.

Lingle has maneuvered the state from a $250 million shortfall after she took office to a $730 million surplus but is now dealing with a crashed economy and must cut the budget to close a $1.2 billion projected gap.

So yesterday she said the state should be forced to save more during good times to smooth out the erratic economy.

She also proposed new tax incentives for hotels and resort owners to rebuild their older properties.

“;I think it is a good idea and long overdue,”; said Keith Vieira, senior vice president and director of operations for Starwood Hotels and Resorts.

“;It certainly will help getting projects moving. Parameters need to be defined to ensure the funds are stimulating projects that will create jobs,”; added Greg Dickhens, executive vice president and senior adviser with Kyo-ya Hotels.

Democratic leaders in the House and Senate had mixed reactions to Lingle's speech, noting that many of her proposals have been tried in the past.

“;We will have the discussion with the administration as they testify in support of their exemptions and credits,”; said Say (D, St. Louis Heights-Palolo Valley-Wilhelmina Rise). “;Is there any exchange or trade-off in any of the proposed legislation that they have and what is presently on the books so that it becomes budget-neutral?”;

    Gov. Lingle lays out her plan

 

 

With just 315 days left, the governor has to try to deal with a $1.2 billion dollars budget deficit.

[ Watch ]

 

House Finance Chairman Marcus Oshiro (D, Wahiawa-Poamoho) criticized Lingle's proposals for pushing the state's budget problems off to the next administration.

“;Interestingly, all these proposals take place when she's out of office,”; Oshiro said. “;It just raises some questions because, first things first, she needs to make sure that she can balance this year's fiscal budget — address a $720 million shortfall.”;

Senate President Colleen Hanabusa said many of the proposals Lingle discussed were not new, but added that old ideas could gain traction if the governor is supporting the concept.

She cited the governor's support of science, technology, engineering and mathematics curriculum, known as STEM education, as an example of an idea the Legislature had “;kicked around”; in the past before the governor became an advocate.

“;You've got to give Gov. Lingle credit in the sense that when she bought on to it, it moved forward,”; said Hanabusa (D, Nanakuli-Makua). “;I think that's what you're going to see in this legislative session. It's going to be a great opportunity to move things forward.”;

———

Star-Bulletin reporter B.J. Reyes contributed to this report.