Rep. Marcus Oshiro responds to "grandstanding" criticism

In today's letters to the editor section of the Star Bulletin, Rep. Marcus Oshiro, House Finance Chair, responded to a commentary written by the Lingle administration, which claims that Democratic legislators politicized and grandstanded during a press conference urging the governor to release Grant-In-Aid operating funds. This issue is very important to the nonprofit organizations who have not yet received monies already accounted for in a balanced state budget approved by the governor in 2007. Oshiro welcomed the criticism of grandstanding and politicizing, stating that if their actions will get the funds released than it can labeled as such.

If the money is not released prior to June 30, the funds, which are not needed to balance the state budget, will be lost. For more background info on this issue, click.

Grant money was set aside in state budget

Predictably, the governor's chief of staff, Barry Fukunaga, makes much ado about last week's legislative Grants-in-Aid press conference in his commentary "Lingle strives to release needed funds sensibly" (Star-Bulletin, June 3). The truth is, any "striving" was self-imposed and unnecessary as the $10 million already was accounted for in a balanced state budget approved by the governor in 2007 and we're dealing with a very small fraction, less than one-tenth of 1 percent, of our $10 billion general fund budget. So if grandstanding and politics gets the monies released, so be it. My constituents would ask no less of me.
And if speaking up for "don't bite the hand that feeds you" nonprofit providers and advocating for the politically powerless beneficiaries raises the governor's ire and criticism, all I can say is e komo mai.

Rep. Marcus R. Oshiro