Abercrombie, Ige joust over fiscal leadership

Gov. Neil Abercrombie on Thursday night described himself as the quarterback who led the state out of the recession, while state Sen. David Ige, his challenger in the Democratic primary, said it was the Legislature that made the difficult decisions to temper the governor’s tax and spending impulses.

In a one-hour debate on PBS Hawaii’s "Insights," the candidates haggled over the state budget, the state’s economic turnaround and the appropriate balance between competing interests.

"Now you don’t always make everybody happy when you do that," Abercrombie said. "But it’s up to a governor to make those decisions. It’s up to the governor to be the quarterback on the field and to make the calls. I’ve never shirked from that. I’ve never been on the sidelines. I’ve always been on the front lines.

"I don’t say that every decision I’ve ever made has always been the correct one or always worked right. But the results are in in the last four years."

Ige, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said that while all could take some credit for the recovery, "the Legislature, I believe, is the one that makes the tough decisions. You know, governor wanted to tax pensions, and the Legislature said, ‘No, we’re not going to tax the pensions to balance the budget.’"

The state senator argued that the Legislature has contained Abercrombie’s spending requests.

"If we had adopted every single proposal the governor had made, we clearly wouldn’t be in the position that we are today," he said.

The debate, moderated by journalist Mahealani Richardson, touched on issues such as education, health care and urban growth in Kakaako, but neither candidate deviated from policy stands he had previously outlined.

The televised debates are critical for Ige, who lacks name recognition with voters and the campaign money necessary for an advertising punch that could raise his profile before the August primary. One-on-one skirmishes with Abercrombie, a seasoned debater, give Ige the chance to show whether he is of chief executive caliber.

But the only other televised debate scheduled so far between them is Thursday with Hawaii News Now and the Star-Advertiser.

While some political analysts thought Abercrombie might try to limit joint appearances, the governor has agreed to debates in Kahului, Hilo, Kona and Honolulu sponsored by AARP Hawaii. The candidates will also appear before the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce.

The AARP Hawaii forums pose a potential risk for Abercrombie, since many seniors were upset when the governor proposed a pension tax in 2011 when the state was still struggling financially. Ige led the fight against the pension tax in the Senate.

Abercrombie said all options had to be considered to close a projected deficit.

"Obviously, those proposals had to go on the table because we were facing a $220 million deficit, and we had unfunded liabilities that weren’t being addressed," he said. "We faced a situation, literally, of fiscal chaos."

But Ige said the "governor’s plan that session really balanced the budget on the back of retirees. And we said, ‘Absolutely not.’"