Legacies all come down to the bottom line. In reviewing the four-year administration of Gov. Neil Abercrombie, weigh it in terms of predecessors: Govs. George Ariyoshi, John Waihee, Ben Cayetano and Linda Lingle.

Except for Ariyoshi, the longest serving, the closing act of Hawaii’s governors suffered as the state strained to pay its bills.

"We have set records in our earning on general fund revenues … a record by registering $60 million in interest income. … Prudent money management means better government without tax increases," said budget-balancing Ariyoshi in a 183-page book listing his accomplishments.

Then, Waihee’s time was marked by a first half with record growth and a second half in which he resorted to "decision-making reducing the level of discomfort to Hawaii’s people during tough economic times."

Cayetano, in his summary of his eight years as governor, recalled that he "faced the worst financial crisis in state history. We immediately reduced spending, eliminated programs, restructured departments and, for the first time in state history, laid off hundreds of workers."

As Lingle concluded in her 2010 State of the State speech, "Our government is spending at a rate that substantially exceeds our revenues and at a level that cannot be sustained."

Outgoing Abercrombie explained in his media exit interviews that his early unpopular calls for raising taxes and cutting state services came because of the state deficit.

"Some very, very hard choices had to be faced and some tough decisions had to be made, which didn’t please a lot of people. And after five decades in electoral politics, I wasn’t blind to what the consequences of some of those decisions would be. I hoped that I could overcome them," Abercrombie told Star-Advertiser reporter Derrick DePledge.

The fiscal difference between exiting Abercrombie and his living predecessors is Abercrombie’s failure to engage the community in a search for solutions.

In some ways he acted like Lingle in her second term, when the 2007 recession rose up to swat away any hopes of a budget in balance. Lingle failed at pulling in costs and was determined not to raise taxes. In the end, she was forced to take warm bodies off the payroll.

Republican Lingle had no friends at the Legislature, controlled by Democrats and the powerful public unions. It was determined that if a budget was to be cut, each slice would also bleed away her popularity.

Enter Democrat Abercrombie, brimming with 40 years of empathy for the legislative experience.

Facing a similar no-money budget, Abercrombie failed to engage first the public and then the Legislature in ways to balance the budget.

State Rep. Calvin Say, House speaker for the first two years of Abercrombie’s term, praised the Manoa Democrat for facing up to the budget problems and proposing ways of solving it.

"The fiscal deficit was not anyone’s fault and he did address it," Say said in an interview.

What happened was that Abercrombie was so dumbfounded by the size of the budget deficit that he threw everything at it to raise money. Public workers, old folks, the poor, no matter how politically suicidal the tax, Abercrombie shouted for it.

"I couldn’t do anything other than what I did. If I had to do over, I would have worked harder at trying to get across the idea that we are all in this together," Abercrombie said in the Star-Advertiser interview.

What finally worked was not Abercrombie’s call for taxing pensions, cutting worker benefits and taxing soda — but a deft round of tempered tax credits, changes in payments to the counties and some serious squeezing of state staffing.

The fact that Abercrombie was unable to lead the state out of the financial problems and the legislatively proscribed solutions offered first by Calvin Say and then by then-state senator and now Gov.-elect David Ige explains much of the Abercrombie legacy.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.