• No more taxes
• Crime and more crime
• Checks and balances
No more taxes
Gov. Lingle has a tough job trying to be responsible and accountable for the finances of the state. Yes, the governor is faced with furloughs in order to keep from firing thousands of government employees.
But she also has a responsibility to see to it that the private sector is not unfairly burdened with carrying the cost of government employees. The union leadership and some legislators are advocating taxing the private sector more in order to save the government employees from furloughs.
The fact of the matter is, Hawai‘i small businesses employ more than 70 percent of the workforce in the state. The employees of Hawai‘i small businesses are already having their hours reduced and many are being temporarily laid off until the economy picks up.
In other words, small businesses and their employees are being burdened enough in these difficult economic times. It is time for the union leadership and our state legislators to step up and have their constituents do their part in carrying their fair share of the burden of all of our economic woes.
The situation is only temporary. Please, no more taxes! To all small business owners and their employees, it is time for you to put your destiny in your own hands. In 2010, vote for Republicans and Democrats who will look out specifically for small businesses and their employees.
Ron Agor, Lihu‘e
Crime and more crime
After reading the article the other day about the Kilauea Bakery being robbed for the fourth time this year, I had to stop and remember that I was also robbed at my own property in April 2008.
The bakery even has pictures of the bad guys that the Kaua‘i Police Department is allegedly looking into. I hope the owner of this bakery is not thinking that KPD will do anything about it, because odds are they will not.
I had a one-of-a-kind custom motorcycle stolen from my place and spoon fed KPD with all of the information that anyone would need to prosecute these thieves, but nothing has been done about this crime for nearly 15 months and nobody has even been questioned, except for me of course, the victim of this crime.
These crimes are continuing to multiply here on our island and the perpetrators are usually the same suspects who never seem to be caught or prosecuted. There have been dozens of break-ins here on the North Shore this year alone, and to date, none have been solved and nobody has been brought to justice.
I know that Chief Perry has a busy job and is certainly an improvement from past chiefs, but the bad guys seem to know that they can get away with just about anything these days and will continue to destroy our way of life here on Kaua‘i.
The bad guys are winning unfortunately, which must change soon.
Jim Gair, Kilauea
Checks and balances
I totally disagree with Walter Lewis’ suggestion that a county manager, hired by the County Council, is the best way to govern Kaua‘i (“A better system of government,” Forum, June 13).
The separation of the executive and legislative branches is as important to state, municipal and county government as it is to our national government.
In my opinion, a strong mayor, elected by the voters of the county, is the best and most efficient way to run Kaua‘i. I speak as one who is personally familiar with this principle. I served as director of civil service for the City and County of Honolulu for 12 years under Mayor Frank Fasi. I also served as Director of Personnel Services on the Big Island under Mayors Herbert Matayoshi and Dante Carpenter.
Our right to vote for the people who are responsible for running local government is too important to give up by letting the council do it for us. Here is how a strong mayor system generally works:
The mayor appoints a managing director responsible for directing the activities of heads of departments such as Parks and Recreation, Public Works, and others.
Department heads are appointed by the mayor. This is most important, because people who are highly qualified in their respective fields of endeavor are the key to a successful administration.
People will remember that Mayor Fasi brought the bus to Honolulu. He also had a van, painted in bus colors, which was called “the mayor’s bus.” He used this vehicle to cover city installations and projects throughout the island.
Every Monday morning, we had a coat-and-tie department heads meeting with the mayor in his office. The questions that Mayor Fasi asked individual department heads were based on information that he had gathered in his travels around the Island.
It sure did keep them on the ball.
If the council appoints the county manager, who will appoint the department heads? Therein lies a basic weakness of this system, because it will be very difficult to keep department heads from being political appointments.
Harry Boranian, Lihu‘e
