Lingle made rash choice to stir the pot on transit
Gov. Linda Lingle has stepped into the fray over a petition that seeks a vote on whether rail should be banned as a transit option for Honolulu. She claims this petition is innocent enough — let the people decide, she says — adding that her support of the process is in keeping with her belief in grass-roots politics.
Last week, Lingle said she will "likely sign" the Stop Rail Now petition.
That statement surely will be seen as a smackdown of the rail project. Signing a petition that proposes an ordinance "to prohibit the use of trains or rail transit" is clearly an expression of opposition.
This comes at a point well after millions have been spent, state and city agencies have cooperated in the project, there are assurances of federal funding and the state has taken a cut of the rail tax in return for collecting the revenue.
It's a little late for Lingle to be distancing herself from the project. She should show real leadership, rather than playing this game.
Lingle argues that she has not taken a position on the city's planned 20-mile elevated system from Kapolei to Ala Moana, a route that already has the approval of the City Council.
The governor may not have officially endorsed the specific $3.7 billion project now under way, but there have been multiple occasions when her commitment to the general concept seemed clear.
A task force of city, state and federal officials convened in the governor's office to present the details.
"Both Mayor Hannemann and I have been supporters of mass transit on O'ahu and his election offers us an opportunity to look at that issue again," she said then.
If she had any doubts about the wisdom of this project, that would have been the time to express them, long before millions in taxpayer funds already have been invested.
Instead, she insisted, if the state was to collect the tax, that 10 percent of the revenues be set aside for the tax collection process, far more than is actually needed and a windfall for the state's budget.
There's never been any hint — until now — that the Lingle administration had any qualms about the rail project now on the planning board. In fact, one of Lingle's own departments, the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, has advocated strongly for the route that serves one of its developments on the 'Ewa Plain.
Now, as the Aug. 4 deadline approaches for the collection of roughly 45,000 signatures on the "stop rail" petition, with federal officials watching Honolulu closely, Lingle decides the time is right to express her ambivalence toward the whole idea.
That's an irresponsible lack of leadership, plain and simple.
Lingle's right about one thing: The heated rhetoric between the pro- and anti-rail groups has interfered with a rational presentation of the benefits and costs of the fixed-guideway project.
But jumping into the petition fracas now, after so much has been invested, merely adds to the upheaval.
Better now that she make her exit from that ballot issue — gracefully, or otherwise.
