GOV. LINDA LINGLE

DECISION PRACTICAL, NOT DISRESPECTFUL AT ALL

Gov. Linda Lingle's decision not to accept the invitation to meet with President-elect Obama in Philadelphia was not intended to be disrespectful and should not be interpreted as such.

Her decision was a practical one. Due to Hawai'i's distance from Philadelphia, the trip would have entailed at least three days for an 85-minute meeting. This meeting comes when state budget preparations are in final stages. Facing a budget shortfall of more than $1.1 billion, the governor is striving to make the most effective use of her time.

We trust the people of Hawai'i understand the governor's intense schedule this week. Beginning Monday, her days have been filled with budget, economic and legislative meetings; an annual meeting of our state's military leaders, including Adm. Timothy Keating; and a major clean-energy announcement.

The governor understands the importance of federal partnerships and has personally reached out to President-elect Obama to invite him to meet with her while he is in Hawai'i this month.

She has been in touch with President-elect Obama's transition team co-chair, Valerie Jarrett, who was understanding of the governor's schedule and will meet with her in Hawai'i later this month.

Also, she has spoken with fellow governors to review discussion points for followup to the brief meeting with the president-elect. In fact, much of the work and coordination will take place after the meeting when the governors will discuss and bring proposals to the new president.

Hawai'i's relationship with the Obama administration promises to be healthy, and Gov. Lingle looks forward to deepening those ties through fruitful meetings in February and into the future.

LINGLE DECISION WAS A PETTY, PARTISAN GESTURE

The nation's governors met in Philadelphia yesterday with President-elect Obama to discuss how the federal government might help states facing budget shortfalls.

Unfortunately, not all the governors were at the meeting. Gov. Linda Lingle said she had a scheduling conflict.

Are you kidding me? Her administration has already started whacking millions out of critically needed social services, and she couldn't find the time to meet with Obama about our financial crisis?

In one petty, partisan gesture, Linda Lingle has managed to belittle our new president, embarrass our state, and pass up an opportunity to perhaps lighten the burdens for some of our friends and neighbors.

Good job, Linda. As soon as I finish counting down George Bush's remaining days in office, I'll start on yours.

GOV. LINGLE'S DECISION SLIGHT TO HAWAI'I VOTERS

The news of our governor not going to the National Governors Conference to meet our locally born and raised president-elect, is not only an embarrassment for the entire state of Hawai'i, but a slight to all voters of our state.

Sarah Palin has wished Barack Obama well. Linda cannot be busy enough to not honor Hawai'i's first president.

I am sure the nation's governors will be just as shocked as this voter and taxpayer.

GOV. LINGLE SHIRKED RESPONSIBILITY TO ISLES

Linda Lingle has two more years as governor of Hawai'i, but she's already shedding her ties and responsibilities to Hawai'i.

First, instead of helping fellow Republicans get elected — remember her repeatedly saying she wants to see the Republican Party in Hawai'i get stronger — she was on the Mainland campaigning for John McCain and Sarah Palin.

Now, she turned down an invitation to attend the National Governors Association meeting where President-elect Barack Obama talked with governors about the financial crisis facing our states. She is still the governor of Hawai'i! Where's her loyalty? Her responsibility?

It was bad enough that she told Mainland voters that Obama's Hawai'i ties were overstated, now she turned her back on an opportunity to join with other states to get help for Hawai'i!

WHAT WOULD CHOICE BE IF MCCAIN HAD WON?

If John McCain had won the presidential election and was the one who called the meeting of governors of all 50 states, would Gov. Linda Lingle had decided that it was more important for her to remain in Hawai'i?

GOV. LINGLE'S ACTION WAS A LOSS FOR HAWAI'I

Before Nov. 4, Gov. Linda Lingle could not be found anywhere near her desk while she spent weeks on the Mainland campaigning for the Republican ticket and downplaying President-elect Obama's Hawai'i roots. ...

Now she couldn't find just three days to accept the Obama's invitation to discuss budget issues that are critical for Hawai'i's economy. Could her motives be partisan? In any case, what a loss for Hawai'i.

EMBARRASSING LINGLE WAS NOT AT MEETING

How embarrassing for the state of Hawai'i to have our governor singled out by a national cable news network for not attending the meeting with President-elect Obama yesterday.

Gov. Linda Lingle said she had too many meetings scheduled to find the time to attend the meeting. She wanted to spend this time working on the state's budget needs. Is she not aware that the meeting was intended to have President-elect Obama filled in on the needs of the states so that he could develop effective plans to aid those states that are in financial trouble?

If Hawai'i needs federal assistance, wouldn't her no-show at the meeting put the state at the back of the line?

Her nonattendance could convey the message that Hawai'i does NOT have any financial problems and she doesn't plan to be in line, much less at the back.

I, for one, resent her attitude and will not forget her actions in the future.

APPALLED OVER DECISION NOT TO ATTEND MEETING

I was appalled to read of Gov. Linda Lingle's decision to not attend yesterday's National Governors Association meeting.

President-elect Obama's plan with regard to the state of the economy is to hit the ground running. Although Obama has not given details, he is planning on spending between $500 billion to $700 billion to assist states with their infrastructure, thereby generating millions of jobs.

With the president-elect's Hawai'i ties, combined with Sen. Daniel Inouye's recent appointment as chairman of the Appropriations Committee, our state is a good position to draw down these federal funds.

Rather than have internal meetings with staff to discuss budget cuts, Gov. Lingle should put together a plan on how to bring these much needed dollars into the state. Commiserate over a slumping local economy, or present a plan to do something about it?

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

EARMARKS A VALUABLE CONGRESSIONAL TOOL

I'm writing to you regarding Sen. Daniel Inouye's comment in the Nov. 22 Advertiser that "earmarks are congressional initiatives."

Sen. Inouye is correct, as the following example will illustrate. When George H.W. Bush was president, to politically punish Hawai'i he eliminated a request to Congress for federal appropriations for the East-West Center.

The EWC is an important part of America's international policy and a place where foreigners come to the U.S. and learn our culture and the ideals of U.S. democracy. Many foreigners have taken back this knowledge and have made their countries more democratic and less dictatorial.

Sen. Inouye saved the EWC by using his earmark money to put into the budget the EWC appropriation. This is an excellent example of how earmarks are congressional initiatives.

The earmark is a courtesy that the Congress extends to its members to place money in the budget that the president, the appropriations committee in the Senate or the Finance committee in the House have omitted from the budget.

PAIN CONTROL

PROVIDE SAFE, RELIABLE ACCESS TO MEDICAL POT

As a Hawai'i-born expert on local regulation of medical marijuana (licensed to practice law in California and Hawai'i), I learned some things from the Nov. 24 article, "Medical pot users up 87%." Apparently Keith Kamita, head of the state's Narcotics Enforcement Division, thinks he knows better than doctors what drugs people should use. He also thinks he knows better what "debilitating pain" is. And he can apparently read the Legislature's mind and knows what their intent is. This is the problem with Hawai'i's medical marijuana law, it puts a health program under the control of law enforcement. Is it any wonder it doesn't work and is woefully underutilized?

The Legislature needs to re-visit the law, move it out of the control of law enforcement to the health department, and provide for sensible, safe access to quality-assured medical marijuana regulated by the counties. Anything less is just a shibai, a put-on — the appearance of a medical marijuana program but not the reality.