Letter to the Editor for Saturday — October 18, 2003

• Does Lingle believe in democracy?

Does Lingle believe in democracy?

Gov. Linda Lingle’s advice to Hawai‘i’s developers seems to be an instruction to developers on how to undermine the democratic process and the will of the people.

Here is a Lingle quote from your October 16 coverage of her address to Honolulu private developers: “It’ll take time and money to support and campaign for candidates who agree with business on key issues, but once they’re in, you don’t have to go back down there anymore to the Legislature because you have elected someone who agrees with you.”

In other words, if we spend enough money in the right way, we can have whatever we want. And the people can just lump it. We have examples of this style of governance right now in the actions of George Bush. Even though he wasn’t exactly elected, he certainly knows how to go ahead and serve the interests of his most wealthy constituents, here and abroad, without regard for the wishes or well being of the general public.

Linda Lingle and George Bush understand that with enough money you can get people into office without the public ever knowing what their beliefs are. Once they are in they can do what they want under the guise of having been “fairly elected by the people.” There will probably always be unprincipled politicians who want to be in power for the wrong reasons. But it is appalling that Linda Lingle would send out a loud and clear call for campaign spending sufficient to guarantee the election of stealth candidates committed to rubber stamping the rapid development of agricultural lands in our state.

The governor’s speech suggests that our elected Governor Lingle does not really believe in representative democracy. But perhaps this is exactly what we should have expected when the national Republican Party is permitted to spend almost unlimited money to influence Hawaiian elections.

Sincerely,

David Roach

Kapa‘a