The race for governor, according to Democratic candidate D.G. “Andy” Anderson, boils down to three issues: “Jobs, jobs, jobs.” His economic plans will create new jobs, secure existing jobs, and put 50,000 unemployed people in Hawai’i back to work, said
The race for governor, according to Democratic candidate D.G. “Andy” Anderson, boils down to three issues: “Jobs, jobs, jobs.”
His economic plans will create new jobs, secure existing jobs, and put 50,000 unemployed people in Hawai’i back to work, said Anderson, calling himself the only candidate with experience in both business and state government.
“We are almost bankrupt,” he said of state government. Years of fiscal mismanagement, of surpluses accumulated and spent, of oversized state government, have put the next governor, whomever he or she may be, in a difficult situation upon assuming office, Anderson said.
If some forward, creative, positive thinking doesn’t happen in state government in the next year or two, Anderson predicts continued economic stagnation, more public-worker strikes, and general malaise.
Because the state didn’t take care of business in recent years, the federal government has seen fit to move in and make sure special education and prison services are delivered as federal and state laws mandate, he continued.
The state Department of Education and Department of Health were given permission, Anderson said, to ignore state procurement laws to fill job vacancies and otherwise attempt to comply with federal special-education mandates indicates a system “totally out of control.”
The state doesn’t have the money to keep throwing money at this problem, he commented.
“Our problem right now is money,” said Anderson, whose said his two decades of experience in the state Legislature and expertise in government finance gained there make him a viable choice in the minds of him and his followers.
Anderson said he decided to toss his hat into the ring because he is worried about what proposed budget cuts to the state DOE and University of Hawai’i system will mean to delivery of public education in the state, and about the state’s perception as being unfriendly to business, He also said he fears the kind of state that would be left behind for his children and grandchildren if people don’t start working together for the common good of Hawai’i.
Further, the state Legislature remains mired in tasks of putting out fires each session instead of focusing on long-range planning, economic diversification and other forward-thinking strategies, he feels.
“We have to generate time to think positive. I can’t tell you how important that is,” for the governor and Legislature to be given time and encouragement to create, be innovative, he said.
“There’s an awful lot of talent in the Legislature,” but much of it is “young and inexperienced,” said Anderson. “We have to bring that gang together, harness that energy, and get them committed to progress.”
Anderson feels he has the experience and leadership skills necessary to make the state a place his grandchildren can come home to, and build homes and secure futures, if they want to come home.
A businessman for 42 years, one-time candidate for lieutenant governor and former state senator and representative for two decades, Anderson currently owns and manages two restaurants in O’ahu.
Anderson said he has been out of politics for 15 years, but decided to run for governor when friends from both parties begged him to come out of political retirement and reunite a fragmented state.
He formed an exploratory committee, did some polling, and found out he had the support necessary to launch Andy 2002, his gubernatorial campaign (www.andy2002.org).
“I’m at the age where I don’t need the job, don’t need the money, and don’t think my opponents have experience,” said Anderson, who is a youthful-looking 72.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
