Jobs more important than social issues

In the Star-Advertiser’s editorial supporting the gubernatorial campaign of Neil Abercrombie, the editorial board criticized Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona for opposing civil unions and medical marijuana dispensaries ("Abercrombie for governor," Star-Advertiser, Oct. 22).

Are you more concerned about gay marriage and pot distribution than about healing the economy, creating private sector jobs and reforming public education?

Aiona and state Rep. Lynn Finnegan will maintain political balance and much-needed fiscal responsibility in the executive branch over the next four and hopefully eight years.

By contrast, Abercrombie and Brian Schatz would grow government, hike taxes and bow down to the public sector unions, which adamantly oppose any meaningful changes to our public school system.

Aiona failed in 8 years to provide leadership

Your endorsement of Neil Abercrombie is on target. Neil has the experience and know-how to make the changes that are necessary to get Hawaii on track. The Lingle-Aiona administration had the chance to do what Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona is proposing. What he says sounds good, but it comes back to the fact that he has had chances to implement his ideas, and has failed to provide the leadership to make things better.

Confrontational politics, poor control of the tourism industry, constant efforts to disenfranchise gay and lesbian citizens and politicizing the issue, confronting the school board and system instead of working to improve educational conditions, and much more, are his legacy.

Abercrombie is like hard-working tugboat

As a broadcaster, author and lifelong resident of Hawaii, I have interviewed every governor since our first, William F. Quinn.

I interviewed Neil Abercrombie when he first ran for the state House. His energy, intelligence, empathy for our unique culture, plus the ability to work his okole off to get things done was, and is, inspiring.

To see Abercrombie speaking live on CSPAN from the floor of the U. S. House as an advocate for Hawaii was always special. His subject and style were passionate and persuasive, in sync with the changing times.

There is a tugboat in Honolulu Harbor named Abercrombie — a fitting metaphor for pushing and pulling until the job is done. That’s one reason I will cast my vote for the unsinkable, unstoppable Mr. Abercrombie on Tuesday.

A vote against Aiona is for business as usual

The attack on Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona’s interest in the International Transformation Network is unfortunate. He is a man of faith and prayer, not the usual politician.

We know that politicians are promising everything to get our vote. Like the Chilean miners, we are in a deep hole and I would rather have a man who knows how to pray effectively to be in the hole with us.

Every person — Catholic, Protestant and others who believe in the power of prayer — should get out and vote for Aiona, or else it will be business as usual.

If GOP wins, Djou will toe party line

In the Hanabusa-Djou debates, something was missing: the Republican agenda. Instead, U.S. Rep. Charles Djou bragged about being bipartisan and independent during his brief honeymoon in Congress. Whatever Hawaii wants, Djou can provide it.

Wrong. In the current Democratic Congress, Djou has been freelancing, able to support any bill he chooses. But if Republicans gain control, and he hopes to wield any influence, he will be forced to support the Republican agenda.

Will your vote tip our country toward help for the unemployed or toward tax breaks for billionaires? Toward improving health care reform or toward abandoning reforms we’re already seeing? Toward stricter regulation of Wall Street’s corruption and Big Oil’s environmental recklessness or toward "smaller government" (i.e. unregulated corporate profiteering)?

Wait for mainland results before voting

If November’s election is a wave that brings us a Republican majority in Congress, Hawaii’s 1st District will be at a crossroad.

If U.S. Rep. Charles Djou wins, he’ll be in the majority with a leg up in seniority on the freshman class. If state Sen. Colleen Hanabusa wins, she’ll be a low-seniority member of the minority party defending the Democrats’ newly marginalized view.

The prudent voter who would like at least one of Hawaii’s representatives to be in the majority party could wait until 3 p.m. on election day to see if this "tsunami" is real.

Halt donations by government unions

I’m sure I stand with many others who are disgusted by the negative political ads. But what really gripes me is the fact that we, the taxpayers, are paying for some of them. When the Hawaii Government Employees Association ad appeared recently, I saw the arrogance of its actions.

Our tax dollars pay those government employees. I would imagine a portion of their pay goes directly to fund their union. Then they turn around and create political ads with our money?

Let’s push the next governor and the Legislature to prohibit all government workers unions in Hawaii from being allowed to lobby for or against any candidate. Government employees should remain nonpartisan. If they don’t like it, then let them find a job in the private sector.

Appointed BOE best for accountability

Hawaii needs meaningful change if we want to improve our public schools and prepare our kids for college or future jobs. The present system is controlled by the Board of Education, the Legislature and the governor. The results of so many drivers going in different directions are predictable — there is no one to hold accountable and little success for our schools.

How can we put students first? Replace the Board of Education with one appointed by the governor. If the governor is accountable for public education, someone becomes responsible for student outcomes and no blame can be assigned to any other entity for failures such as those we experienced with Furlough Fridays.

Transit authority will move rail ahead

In the November election, the public will be able to vote on the formulation of a public transit authority that would oversee the planning, construction, operation and maintenance of Honolulu’s rail transit system.

This is not a new concept. Every major city that has a rail transit system operates under a transit authority. The authority would be an independent agency that provides efficient management of the rail construction, which is expected to create thousands of good-paying jobs and help stimulate Hawaii’s economy. Business leaders and transit experts who could be tapped to serve on the transit authority would be tasked in creating a sensible financial plan for the project to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent wisely.

A "yes" vote for the transit authority ballot initiative would continue to move the Honolulu rail transit project in the right direction.

Rail agency would have too much power

I urge each voter to thoroughly read each proposed charter amendment prior to casting their vote. After reading each sentence of the proposed public transit authority, I believe it gives too much power to the appointed director and members of the board of a newly created "Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation." The power to condemn, purchase, exchange or transfer real property, for instance, and to sell bonds to finance the many and various aspects of the project. The wording is vague and subject to interpretation.

The project should be the responsibility of the existing state and city transportation departments and all elected officials, directly answerable to the voters of Honolulu, not hiding behind the director and members of an appointed board.

Willoughby a better choice than Hirono

With so many negative ads running, I was pleasantly surprised to see an interview with John Willoughby on our local news. He promised to donate half of his salary to charitable causes. With so much corruption in our government and the selfish party politics of U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono, it seems that this candidate would be a great improvement to spread the aloha of Hawaii representing us in Washington.

Kids Voting Hawaii promotes voting habit

The future of our country is now in elementary and secondary schools. Kids Voting Hawaii is giving students K-12 — in public, private, charter and home schools — the opportunity to get into the habit of voting, by giving them a portal to democracy.

By logging on to www.kidsvotinghawaii.org, inserting their personal passwords and their families’ precinct and district numbers, students statewide are calling up the same ballot their parents will see, when they go to the polls to vote. But their ballots include photographs of the candidates in major races, so they can better identify their choices. The student ballots also include age-appropriate issues of student interest. Parents and children are discussing the election and sharing the ballot, in advance of Nov. 2.

On behalf of the all-volunteer, nonprofit, non-partisan Kids Voting Hawaii ohana, mahalo to the teachers who have taken the time to download the student passwords and distribute them to their students so that they can have a voice in the 2010 general election.

The results of the Kids Voting Hawaii General Election will be announced just after 6 p.m. on Nov. 2. Kids Voting Hawaii has been invited onto the state Capitol balcony to announce the results to reporters, before the adult results are released. The students’ voices will be heard first in the 2010 general election.