Today was the Star-Bulletin's turn to show Dingle-Ling the error of her ways when it came to dealing with the sit-in protestors.

Take it away, Richard Borreca.

And while this editorial takes the HSTA and even the SOS protestors to task, it still readily admits that the governor "could have turned in a better performance in her handling of protesters who have been staging a sit-in..."

While I do agree with your thoughts on the legalization of gambling, I do not agree with your idea that the DOE needs more money. They have more than enough money if you benchmark their overall budget against other states. We need people in the DOE (and other areas of government) who know how spend the money wisely.

And no, I would not fear for you being in my district if I ever ran for office A difference in opinion between two people like you and I is not something to be despised or feared, but rather something that should spark a debate with the goal of mutual understanding.

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I'm glad to hear that! If someone with your attitude were to be my state rep. or city councilman, I definitely would consider you to be worthy of my vote. Agreeing to disagree is fine on some issues. (Disagreeing on most or all issues, well, that would be a problem...)

Unfortunately, not everyone in office thinks like you. Like a former Honolulu city councilman who was in office for 12 years, started acting like a high muckamuck and even called my former neighbor a "son of a b---h" over the phone. Well, that was what got me actively involved in politics. And while the candidate I campaigned for didn't win the election, Mr. Muckamuck ended up losing his re-election bid in what was one of the bigger upsets that year.

(I don't want to say that guy's name. He was actually a good and proactive city councilman in his earlier years. He has since passed on, and it's time to let bygones be bygones.)

the last thing the schools need is more money...what they need is less people...take that money saved and pay the teachers more and be more efficient....
this is from hawaii reporter:

did you know that each school has two cabinetmakers?
and we have 287power mower supervisors...what do they do?
the school system has become a make work enterprise.
In response to a Freedom for Information Act request filed several months ago by Hawaii Reporter, the Department of Education just recently released its personnel position list for its 258 schools as of 2/10/10.

For the full spread sheet provided by the DOE, link here: DOE Personnel file

Some of the classified personnel include:


3,497 plumbers (355 per complex area or 13 per school)
2,832 power mower operators (315 per complex area or 11 per school)
287 power mower operator supervisors (32 per complex area or more than 1 per school)
587 cabinetmakers (65 per complex area and more than 2 per school)
4,382 educational assistant III (487 per complex area or 17 per school)
846 evaluation specialists (94 per complex area or more than 3 per school)
521 computer programmers (58 per complex area or more than 2 per school)
42 Illustrator-photographers (approx. 1 per complex area)
837 positions are not identified or attached to any program or school
Certificated employees include:


2,303 educational directors (9 per school or 256 per complex area)
135 deputy superintendents (15 per complex area)
80 contract directors (9 per complex area)
72 complex area superintendents (8 per complex area)
70 professional development directors (8 per complex area)
39 12-month state office teachers (4 per complex area)
34 district office teachers (4 per complex area)
28 complex area teachers (3 per complex area)
36 information resource management directors (4 per complex area)
A complex is composed of a high school, intermediate/middle school and elementary feeder schools. A complex area includes 2 to 3 school complexes. There are 9 complex areas in Hawaii’s statewide school district.

The DOE spends $2.4 billion a year on operating expense and over $200 million more on capital expenses for 170,000 students.

The DOE has 80,000 person payroll, according to the DOE's former IT director. But its total classified positions in the statewide public school system add up to 8,799; plus certified positions equal another 13,502 for a total of 22,301.

There are 4,391 elementary school teachers; 3,595 secondary teachers, 42 special school teachers; and 1,831 special education teachers.

The DOE did not provide information regarding salaries, but did provide salary grade for each position. Further analysis will provide government decision makers with the tools to streamline DOE operations and find the money to put students back in school.

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[quote=Frankie's Market;254582]"Unfairly aggressive" is how I would characterize the governor for arresting protestors who have peacefully been sitting-in her office waiting to talk to her and to ask questions. /quote]

Those SOS people were scary looking and had to be put in handcuffs. They should be in Midweek's Hawaii's Most Wanted. I wouldn't want to run into them on the street with their arm tats.

Excuse me? the ones arrested are 2 UH students; the rest are parents, teachers and children. please explain what makes them so scary? and why would the Gov with her security guys feel "scared" enough to arrest peaceful protesters?

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That's the joke. They looked just the opposite with their non-threathening appearance. It was bad PR for Gov. Lingle when the arrested SOS members were shown in handcuffs locked behind their backs.

After reading through SOS's website I get a better understanding of their stance and the efforts they have made. While I do not agree with their stance against the governor, I do applaud them for standing up for what they believe.

I still feel a bit at odds with the idea of releasing so much money from the emergency fund without first addressing, or at the very least beginning to address, the bigger issue with the education system and its terrible spending habits.

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Are these children skipping school to do these sit-in's, if so, seems like that is defeating the purpose. Are the parents are taking off work to do these sit-in's too?

Absolutely.

Why bother? Lingle needn't waste her time or anybody else's with any more "talk story" sessions. As the saying goes, "Crisis reveals character." No amount of PR damage control is going to be able to salvage the horrendous visuals of walking out of a room with people who wanted to ask her questions and having peaceful protestors arrested. Voters aren't going to forget this. I hope she has another career in mind (selling cars at Cutter?) because her time in elective politics in Hawaii are over. Pau.

And maybe there will be no political opportunities for her on the federal level as well, now that news of Lingle's arrests have garnered national attention.

I think Lingle herself realizes as much, as she proceeded to carry on with her slash-and-burn tactics down to the bitter end.

Day 8

KITV

HNN

Two more arrests, and the SOS protestors have ended their sit-in.

Linda Lingle achieves her victory,..... if a victory means clearing out the protestors and successfully stonewalling herself from answering any of their questions.

But as to showing leadership qualities under fire, this observer declares Lingle to be a loser.

Moreover, the controversy surrounding the governor's mishandling of the sit-in protestors isn't over. Those who have been arrested and/or cited will have their day in court, and some attorneys (like Eric Seitz) are already questioning whether the governor's charges will hold up under judicial scrutiny. Needless to say, a dismissal of those charges will be yet another blow to the governor's image and legacy.

The Advertiser's Dave Shapiro likewise chimes in on the now laughable idea of Lingle having a political future after the sit-in debacle.

After reading through Escondido100’s line-item list of seemingly duplicitous positions, I think many would agree with you on that point, dyasu, including me. But I think the point Frankie, and the many media sources he has cited are trying to make, is that Gov. Lingle woefully bungled her response to these well-meaning protestors. We live in a democracy, where government is supposed to be run by We the people...

If a state governor can’t take five minutes to answer a question or two from parents and keiki that have been waiting patiently in her office to meet with her for five days, we have a dysfunctional government. Heck, U.S. President Barack Obama and his VP spent more than half an hour to have a beer with a Harvard professor and Massachusetts policeman who were having trouble getting along.

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The Republicans wanted to let the guys on Wall Street pretty much do what they wanted. Alright? And the Democrats wanted the guys on Wall Street to lend money to anybody ... even if they couldn’t pay it back, no collateral. So the combination of both of them led to this catastrophe.

— Fox News Commentator Bill O’Reilly
Late Night with David Letterman
October 27, 2008

It get's curiouser and curiouser - http://www.khon2.com/news/local/stor...I_KaVK0qA.cspx - http://www.starbulletin.com/news/201...idiculous.html

I think the caterpiller's been sharing his hookah with Linda lately.

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Once again, Lingle flunks P.R. 101 when it comes to garnering public support in the way she's handling the negotiations.

1) Before asking the teachers to work for three days without pay, the governor should have also announced that she and members of her cabinet and staff be willing to likewise "voluntarily" work without pay for 3 days. Hey, Dingle-Ling! Asking only the teachers to work for free without willing to make a reciprocal sacrifice on your part isn't the way to get the public on your side.

2) Instead of negotiating through the press (and doing so clumsily, at that,) how about showing some genuine leadership for once and calling together all the parties involved (BOE and HSTA) to hammer out an agreement in a face-to-face meeting? Grandstanding isn't showing leadership.

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By the same token the HSTA should have agreed to a 5% pay cut and all this wouldn't be news.

More than that, though, is the very idea that it is even possible to operate the schools “voluntarily.” If Governor Lingle has already conceded that there are at least SOME staff besides the teachers (security guards, etc.) that are ESSENTIAL (which she has) then where is the money to pay those people? The $57 million she said she’ll approve is for next year.

The only reason teachers could theoretically ‘volunteer’ is because they are paid SALARY. What about the workers who are paid hourly? FEDERAL LAW prohibits hourly workers from working for free. Why is Lingle asking the schools to break the law?

What an idiot.

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The Republicans wanted to let the guys on Wall Street pretty much do what they wanted. Alright? And the Democrats wanted the guys on Wall Street to lend money to anybody ... even if they couldn’t pay it back, no collateral. So the combination of both of them led to this catastrophe.

— Fox News Commentator Bill O’Reilly
Late Night with David Letterman
October 27, 2008