Ige’s goals show caution to a fault

There are lots of lessons Gov. David Ige undoubtedly took away from his decisive victory over his predecessor, Neil Abercrombie, as to what mistakes he would not repeat. Judging by his first State of the State address delivered Monday at the state Capitol, one of the takeaways must have been: Don’t overpromise.

By itself, that wasn’t a bad instinct, but the voters who wanted a change undoubtedly also hungered for more details, more indicators of which way Ige would go to address the top points in the speech: "We are spending more than we are taking in."

Clearly the new governor is determined to do a better job directing state government in a more efficient, businesslike way. And it’s hard to see a downside there. Among the merits in his address was his plan to modernize the tax system in the interest of efficiency but also to bring in revenue.

The whole mission of modernization is deserving of support and special priority — the information technology system of the state is infamously outdated, and the overhaul that’s been planned must, if anything, accelerate.

However it’s not clear yet that this is his plan. In general, Ige gives a good overview of the state’s problems, but it’s all in broad strokes. A plan of attack, one that makes it plain which problem he wants to tackle first, is lacking.

He gave a tentative nod to private partnerships in changing public hospital operations, "but only if they are shaped in the right way." A less timid assessment of this critical issue, and even a few ideas, were needed.

Ige’s strongest statement concerned the state Department of Education, repeating a familiar theme during his campaign. Ige talked again about empowering principals and teachers, and enlarging the weighted student formula funds the schools control. And he directed the DOE "to stop issuing mandates from the state office." It would help to know which mandates he means, as some are tethered to federal programs. It remains to be seen how the DOE manages the inevitable cuts to its administrative budget, to allow the funding shift to the schools.

And Ige did make a clear commitment to helping rail "succeed," but was noncommittal on funding other than a general call for "cost containment." Rail, Ige said, can direct growth along a newly redeveloped corridor through urbanized Oahu and he rightly identified a crucial role for the state in transit-oriented development: public-private partnerships in affordable housing. His pledge to devote one planning position to this specific mission, and to add $100 million to the state’s rental assistance revolving fund to be leveraged with private funding sounded the right note.

But in that context — and given that this was a big part of the rap on Abercrombie during the campaign — he did not mention the progress of the Kakaako redevelopment, and its future prospects, in the speech.

Also, with the nomination of a controversial appointment to head the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, and with rumblings of legislation to eliminate the Land Use Commission, the public needs to hear the governor stake out his position on environmental concerns. On Monday, as he was preparing to speak, a coalition of environmental groups spoke out against the naming of Carleton Ching, a Castle & Cooke lobbyist, as DLNR director.

This will be addressed in confirmation hearings, but the silence around environmentalism in the legislative chamber was deafening. Ige talked about sustainability largely where it concerned agriculture, but while that’s important, Hawaii’s natural beauty and the need for a conservation ethic can’t be shunted aside.

Ige seems to be advancing gingerly, and some of that is to be expected. But in the coming weeks the public should also expect a little less playing-it-safe and a lot more straight talk from their governor. Leadership is what’s required to solve the problems on Ige’s list.