It's no secret that Gov. Lingle and the Legislature often don't see eye to eye. Even so, they have a responsibility to work together for the public good.

So it's dismaying to see political sniping interfere with one project they should agree on: the proposed Maui Regional Public Safety Complex, a facility to replace the deteriorating and overcrowded Maui Community Correctional Center.

On Sept. 25, Gov. Lingle sent a letter to Maui Sen. Shan Tsutsui and the rest of the Legislature, saying that she was suspending work on the project because of perceived lack of support from lawmakers. She cited comments by Tsutsui in a Maui News article questioning the project's design and its estimated $235 million price tag. This response was unnecessarily extreme — surely the vice chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee should have some oversight over how taxpayer money is spent.

Nonetheless, the governor's frustration is understandable. In the article, Tsutsui argued that because of fundamental disagreements, "it's optimistic to say we are 10 years away" and that the state "needs to go back to the drawing board."

These comments suggest a stubborn refusal to find a workable compromise to move the project ahead expeditiously.

The state has already spent $9 million of a budgeted $16 million for environmental assessment, design and survey work.

And the design and cost haven't been locked in stone. The state is revising its plans in response to critics, changing the design and downsizing the project from 843 beds to 609.

As for the cost, private partnerships, such as a leaseback deal, are being considered to lessen the expense to the state.

Both sides should drop their political posturing and figure out a way to make this project work.

After all, they agree on the need. The present facility in Wailuku, designed for 209 inmates, now holds 351, and the inmate population is expected to grow. The new facility in Pu'unene would house both pre-trial inmates and those transitioning back into the Maui community, and consolidate agency offices that provide intake services, parole programs, job and vocational training and other support.

Indeed, the project's final form will be the product of political give and take. But it shouldn't be held hostage by fruitless bickering.