Priorities

Rep. Marcus Oshiro's letter to the editor, Honolulu Advertiser 12/2/08, on Governor Lingle's decision to decline invite from the President-Elect:

Surely Gov. Lingle can reprioritize meetings

Gov. Linda Lingle should reconsider her decision and meet with President-elect Obama to discuss Hawai'i's economic crisis and seek his assistance. All leaders face unexpected requests and meetings are re-prioritized when necessary.

The budgetary challenges facing our state will still be here when she returns and postponing meeting with the state economist will not improve economic conditions one bit.

Surely, Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona can conduct a press conference and host a dinner with local military leaders. I have no doubt that our military leaders understand the importance of meeting with our next president.

She made three trips to the Mainland spending three weeks campaigning for McCain/Palin during a time when layoffs, deficits and unemployment were hitting record levels, and she won't make the time to meet with our incoming president?

As governor, she spent 12 days in November meeting with Asia's government leaders and she won't spend a couple of hours with our own president-elect?

I'll put my money where my mouth is and pay for a round-trip ticket for her. I'll even throw in a case of Wahiawa pineapple for omiyage.

Rep. Marcus R. Oshiro D-39th (Wahiawa)