In a move that could signal the end of her political career in Hawaii, former Gov. Linda Lingle on Thursday was tapped by the new Republican governor of Illinois to serve as a senior adviser working to help turn around that state’s sinking finances.
Gov. Bruce Rauner made the announcement in a presentation at the University of Chicago, calling Lingle a "superstar" who led a turnaround in Hawaii and is ready to do the same in Illinois, according to reports.
Lingle, 61, will join what Rauner described as his "Turnaround Team" — a trio of outsiders with experience in budgeting and management. Also on the team is a state budget expert who has worked with Republican governors in Michigan, New York, Florida and California, and a former chief operating officer under two Georgia governors, who was named deputy governor.
"Our current trajectory is unsustainable as a state," Rauner said in a statement Thursday. "I’ve long promised to bring superstars from both inside Illinois and out to help turn our state around."
Lingle’s assignment won’t be easy. Rauner said Illinois is in "massive deterioration mode" with, among other things, the worst-funded public retirement system and the lowest credit ratings in the nation.
On Thursday the first Republican Illinois governor in a dozen years promised reforms to make the state more attractive to businesses while cutting spending for such things as the state payroll, health insurance for the poor and public pensions.
Lingle, who is expected to start sometime in May or June, could not be reached for comment Thursday.
But Hawaii Pacific University professor John Hart said he believes Lingle is repositioning herself to relaunch her political career on the mainland.
"I would not be surprised if she took a look at the political landscape and maybe saw an opening," he said. "The mainland — that’s where her future lies."
Hart, chairman of HPU’s Communication Department, said Lingle’s options here are limited after serving as a two-term governor and losing to Mazie Hirono in her 2012 run for the U.S. Senate. If she were to run for national office in Hawaii again, she would likely face an incumbent and be at a disadvantage.
"She’s gone," the professor said. "She’s not coming back."
Pat Saiki, chairwoman of the Hawaii Republican Party, said she didn’t necessarily think it means the end for Lingle in Hawaii.
"Her career is never over," she said. "Wherever she pops up, she’s a star."
Saiki praised Rauner for scooping up "such a talented person as Linda Lingle. He’s the lucky one."
Saiki said she has no doubt Lingle will help Rauner put Illinois on better financial footing.
The former congresswoman dismissed any assertion that Lingle is moving to Illinois with an agenda to reclaim her political mojo.
"She’s an honest-to-goodness, decent and honorable person," she said. "Linda’s like everyone else. She’s taking it one step at a time."
Dan Boylan, a political columnist for MidWeek, said that if Lingle does have a future in Hawaii politics, she isn’t doing herself any favors by taking a job in Illinois and spurning a strong local culture in the islands that values loyalty.
"She’s taking a walk. It can’t help her," he said.
Lingle passed up her likely best chance to re-enter the Hawaii political scene by declining to run for the U.S. Senate last year, said Boylan, professor emeritus of history at the University of Hawaii-West Oahu.
Boylan said an Illinois staff position seems like a perfect fit for Lingle, an intelligent and dedicated public servant who always seemed a bit uncomfortable in the spotlight despite her success.
What’s more, he said, Lingle is probably ideal for politics in Illinois, where as a moderate she will be valued as a "practical Republican and not an ideologue Republican."
Since her failed Senate bid in 2012, Lingle has been teaching a seminar on public policy at California State University, Northridge, the college from which she graduated 40 years ago. She has also conducted some lectures and participated in the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Governors’ Council and Energy Security Council.
After graduating from CSU Northridge, the St. Louis-born Lingle moved to Hawaii and began publishing the Molokai Free Press. In 1980 she ran for a seat on the Maui County Council and went on to serve five two-year terms on the Council, three representing Molokai.
Despite being a Republican in a widely Democratic state, she steadily climbed to the top of Hawaii’s political mountain. She was elected mayor of Maui County in 1990, serving two four-year terms, and then she captured the office of governor in 2002.
Lingle, Hawaii’s first Republican governor in 40 years, was re-elected in 2006 by the largest margin for any gubernatorial race in Hawaii history, which included winning all of Hawaii’s 51 House districts.
But the recession and the emergence of mainland Republican conservatives conspired to help undermine Lingle’s plans to achieve national office, Boylan said.
According to her official biography, Lingle "provided a clear vision for the fundamental transformation of Hawaii’s economy through the Hawaii Innovation Initiative and the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, both of which positioned Hawaii as a world leader in the 21st-century economy."
