Gov. Linda Lingle is right that Hawai'i Tourism Authority CEO Rex Johnson has to go after new revelations that he sent racist and sexist e-mails as well as pornography from his state computer.

The new messages uncovered by Advertiser reporter Rick Daysog are vile, and this is simply not the kind of person we want representing Hawai'i to visitors we seek to attract from around the world.

Johnson is seriously mistaken when he claims the offensive jokes he forwarded under the state's digital seal don't reflect on his character; if he continues to represent us, it also reflects badly on the character of our state and leaders in the Legislature who have been willing to tolerate his crude behavior.

Johnson's fight to survive an untenable situation of his own making distracts from the vital work to revive our tourism business that is down nearly 15 percent as a result of airline closures, skyrocketing fuel prices and a worldwide economic slump.

It's never good to have to change leadership in such critical times, but Johnson's ability to lead left the building along with his credibility. It's time for tourism agency directors and capable staff to move forward with established marketing strategy until a new CEO is in place.

Johnson's problems started when State Auditor Marion Higa found pornographic e-mails that he had sent to friends from his state computer.

The industry mostly backed him, and he received a solid wall of support from legislative leaders — Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, Vice President Donna Mercado Kim, House Speaker Calvin Say and tourism chairmen Sen. Clarence Nishihara and Rep. Ryan Yamane.

Johnson apologized and tourism agency directors sanctioned him for misusing state equipment by cutting his salary from $240,000 to $200,000 and reducing the term of his contract from four years to one.

It was difficult to judge the fairness of the punishment because the nature of the pornographic e-mails wasn't made public, but everybody seemed satisfied and the matter appeared settled.

Then The Advertiser's Daysog dug deeper and found that in addition to the porn Johnson passed along to friends, he had also sent them even more troubling racist and sexist e-mails.

Perhaps the most offensive of these referred to Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama as a "coon" and Hillary Clinton as a "beaver," diminishing in vulgar terms the historic candidacies of the first African American and the first woman to seriously contend for the White House.

For Kim to absurdly liken such hateful insults to sending out Frank DeLima CDs only magnifies the offense.

Johnson didn't write the slurs himself, but forwarded e-mails containing them with the greeting "Aloha, Rex." It had the look of an official state communication with a forwarding line that said, "Forwarded by Rex Johnson/HTA/DBEDT."

Who knows how many others Johnson's friends forwarded the e-mails to, with the imprint of the Hawai'i Tourism Authority and the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

The important principle here is that there are standards of decency we must uphold in public service, and Johnson is way across the line.

If he doesn't step aside, others must force the issue so we can restore our state's reputation and move ahead with an aggressive tourism marketing program.

The legislative leaders who earlier lined up behind Johnson must uncircle the wagons in light of the new information and join Lingle in making clear that he can't survive. Tourism agency directors should show him the door if he won't find it himself.

This is a case where the right business decision and the right ethical decision are crystal clear and the same.

David Shapiro, a veteran Hawai'i journalist, can be reached by e-mail at dave@volcanicash.net. His columns are archived at www.volcanicash.net. Read his daily blog, Volcanic Ash, at volcanicash.honadvblogs.com.

David Shapiro, a veteran Hawai'i journalist, can be reached by e-mail at dave@volcanicash.net. His columns are archived at www.volcanicash.net. Read his daily blog at blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com.