Gov. Linda Lingle, trying to tap into populist anger over higher taxes, yesterday invited the public to join her at the state Capitol on Thursday afternoon when she plans to veto bills that would raise taxes.

The governor will either allow people to watch her veto the bills in her fifth-floor offices or, if the crowd is too large, outside in the rotunda.

Lingle will veto bills that raise state income taxes on the wealthy, increase the hotel-room tax, and hike the conveyance tax on luxury homes. The governor is still reviewing whether to veto tax increases on cigarettes and other tobacco products.

The tax increases would generate $250 million to help close the deficit in the state's two-year budget and $800 million over the six-year financial plan.

Lingle accused majority Democrats of delaying economic recovery with the tax increases. The Republican governor also faulted Democrats for failing to reach agreement on her "recreational renaissance" initiative to improve state parks, trails and small-boat harbors, and on a bill that would have banned new fossil fuel power plants.

"This legislative session, the actions they took and the actions they didn't take — taken together — will prolong our economic recovery," Lingle said at a news conference at the Capitol yesterday. "It will make it harder for the state of Hawai'i to get our economy back on track. It will cause unemployment to rise. It will cause more businesses to fail, more families to be in dire straits."

State House and Senate leaders said they believe they have the two-thirds vote count necessary to override her vetoes. Lawmakers have extended the session two days so they can hold override votes.

"At least she's not blaming us for the swine flu," joked state Rep. Marcus Oshiro, D-39th (Wahiawa), the chairman of the House Finance Committee.

Democrats say Lingle is grandstanding on taxes without providing a credible plan to deal with the deficit. Lingle asked lawmakers to assume $278 million in labor savings from collective bargaining with government unions, but lawmakers say that would be irresponsible, given that negotiations are ongoing and could last several weeks or months.

Oshiro said lawmakers would be interfering in collective bargaining if they were to accept Lingle's figure. The governor and labor unions are discussing possible furloughs and health-benefit adjustments to cut costs.

JOBS AT STAKE

At her news conference, Lingle and Laura H. Thielen, the director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, complained that the failure of the "recreational renaissance" bill was a setback that would delay infrastructure improvements that could have provided construction jobs.

The bill, which was in the House majority package, stalled late Friday because of concerns in the Senate. Thielen called the defeat "unnecessarily cruel" but said the department would proceed with scaled-back repair and maintenance projects.

The recreational renaissance involved $240 million in improvements over five years, with the bond debt paid by state land lease rents. Fees, leases and concessions would also have helped finance the repairs.

State Sen. Clayton Hee, D-23rd (Kane'ohe, Kahuku), a lead negotiator on the bill, said he did not have confidence that proposed entry fees on out-of-state residents at the most popular state parks would help finance the repairs, given the recession.

Hee said lawmakers could not trust the assumptions on visitor fees given the decline in state revenues and tourism. "It became very difficult to simply agree with the governor and trust her judgment," he said.

Lingle was also critical of lawmakers for not passing a ban on new fossil-fuel plants, which was in the Senate's majority package.

Some environmentalists also were disappointed. "The Legislature missed an opportunity to ensure that all new energy in Hawai'i will be clean energy," Jeff Mikulina, executive director of the Blue Planet Foundation, said in a statement. "We will continue to educate lawmakers and the public on why building new coal and oil power plants in our Islands makes no sense."

Lingle blamed state Rep. Hermina Morita, D-14th (Hanalei, Anahola, Kapa'a), one of the lead negotiators on the bill, and suggested Morita was trying to help the Kaua'i Island Utility Cooperative, which has interest in a new plant.

"That's not a true statement," Morita said. Morita, one of the strongest voices for the environment at the Legislature, described the ban as a "sound bite" that would have limited the state's flexibility. She said the state's goal of getting 70 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030 presumes at least 30 percent would still come from fossil fuels.

Morita said the state would have to consider reliability and price issues, along with whether alternative fuels would have a smaller carbon footprint than oil, as it transitions into renewable energy.

"Just by using this kind of sound bite you're giving the impression that we'll be oil-free," she said.