Friday, May 16, 2008

Finance Chair Corrects Smith

In today's Honolulu Advertiser Letters section:

Legislature provided funding where needed

In her May 2 opinion piece in The Advertiser, the governor's senior policy adviser distorted the truth on what the Legislature did or did not do.

Here are some simple facts:

The Legislature provided 150 percent more money than the governor requested for the repair and maintenance of our schools. The governor sought $26 million, while the Legislature provided more than $66 million.

The Legislature provided 40 percent more than the governor requested for the repair and maintenance of University of Hawai'i facilities. The governor sought $50 million, while the Legislature provided more than $70 million.

The Legislature provided a total of $57.7 million for charter schools. That's $1.6 million more than the governor provided and $6.1 million more than they are currently receiving.

Linda Smith implies that the governor's budget was balanced, and had all the correct priorities. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Most people don't consider spending $8 million to replace the Capitol pool a top priority, especially when she refuses to fund federally mandated cesspool repairs at our Neighbor Island schools.

The truth is the Legislature cut $44 million from the governor's spending plan, bringing it back into balance, but ensured that sufficient funding was provided to:

*Repair our schools and University of Hawai'i facilities.
*Modernize our harbors, airports and highways.
*Support statewide energy conservation.
*Protect our environment and natural resources.
*Provide homeless shelters and affordable housing.
*Increase healthcare for all and support emergency medical services.

The senior policy adviser's spinning of the truth leaves one dizzy.

Rep. Marcus Oshiro
Chair, House Finance Committee

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh that's right Marcus everything was perfect and the majority can't do any better... From your attacks on the Gov. to members of the minority party I and many others find you one of the most divisive represenatives in the people's house. We the citizens who pay you are tired of the rancor and defensiveness... play nice or not at all... and start working together to get stuff done for Hawaii's citizens.

November's coming... and none to soon!

Anonymous said...

Personal attacks and empty threats do nothing to enlighten the conversation. Let's just stick to the facts.

Anonymous, if you have different facts from Rep. Oshiro, let's hear them.