Linda Lingle

Linda Lingle
Linda Lingle addresses the National Park Service on the 65th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor Attack
6th Governor of Hawaii
In office December 2 2002 – present
Lieutenant	James Aiona - R
Preceded by	Benjamin J. Cayetano - D
Succeeded by	Incumbent (2010)
Personal details
Born	(1953-06-04) June 4, 1953 St. Louis, Missouri
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Divorced
Profession	Newspaper Publisher

Linda Lingle (born Linda Cutter on June 4 1953) has been Governor of Hawaii since December 2 2002. She was sworn in for a second term on December 4 2006.

Lingle holds a number of distinctions: first Republican elected governor of Hawaii since the departure of William F. Quinn in 1962, first county mayor elected governor of Hawaii, first female governor of Hawaii, first Jewish governor of Hawaii; the first twice-divorced governor of Hawaii; and the first governor not to have any children. During the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City, Lingle served as chairperson of the convention during the absence of permanent chairperson Dennis Hastert from the convention floor.

Prior to her gubernatorial administration, Lingle served as Maui County mayor, councilmember, and chaired the Hawaii Republican Party. On November 20 2006, her approval rating stood at 71% with only 24% disapproval.

Early years

Born Linda Cutter in St. Louis, Missouri 1953, Lingle moved with her family to Southern California when she was 12. She graduated from Birmingham High School in Lake Balboa, California, then received her bachelor's degree in journalism cum laude from California State University, Northridge in 1975.

Soon after that, she followed her father to Hawaii, working first in Honolulu as a public information officer for the Teamsters and Hotel Workers Union. Later, she moved to Molokai, where she started the Molokai Free Press, a community newspaper which became a big success.

County politics

In 1980, Lingle was elected to the Maui County Council, where she served five two-year terms. Lingle served three of those terms representing Molokai and two terms as an at-large member. Upon the 1990 retirement of Hannibal Tavares as mayor of Maui County, Lingle decided to challenge former Maui mayor and Hawai'i State Speaker of the House of Representatives Elmer Cravalho for the seat. Despite polls showing Lingle trailing far behind her Democratic opponent, Lingle proved victorious. The Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin newspapers declared the election one of the biggest upsets in Hawai'i political history. She became the youngest person elected to the office of Maui County Mayor, at the age of 37, as well as the first woman. In 1994, Lingle easily won re-election.

Maui County, under the leadership of Mayor Lingle, implemented performance-based budgeting. Its' successful passage and execution earned for Lingle the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the Government Finance Officers Association for four years. Mayor Lingle was also credited for attracting tourism and job growth to Maui County during a period when the state tourism industry was struggling.

1998 gubernatorial campaign

Lingle would once again attempt an upset victory, this time in pursuit of the governor's office in 1998. Barred from seeking a third term as mayor of Maui, Lingle was nominated by the Hawaiʻi Republican Party to run against incumbent Governor Benjamin J. Cayetano. Republican party members believed that Lingle was the best shot at the office and that 1998 would probably be the only chance the party would have of ever winning. Lingle capitalized on the anger of Hawaiʻi residents over the stagnant economy and their dissatisfaction with the strategies employed by the Democrats in attempt to solve the problem. Cayetano trailed in the media polls heading into the November election but on the evening of the election, Cayetano and Lingle were separated by a single percentage point forcing a recount. Lingle was defeated in the closest election in Hawaiʻi history.

The state Democratic Party was accused, although there was no evidence, of launching a whisper campaign alleging that Lingle was a lesbian, and that because she was Jewish, she would abolish Christmas as a state holiday.

Republican leadership

Linda Lingle smashes a bottle of champagne against the sail of the USS Hawaii (SSN-776) during the ship's christening ceremony.

After being defeated, Lingle was elected chair of the Hawaiʻi Republican Party. She served from 1999 to 2002. During her tenure as party chair, Lingle overhauled party policies and gave the party a facelift she believed was needed to make the party competitive in a historically Democratic Party dominated state. Internal reforms proved successful and Lingle succeeded in electing more Republicans to seats in both houses of the Hawaiʻi State Legislature. At the peak of Republican success, the party held 19 of the 51 seats in the state House of Representatives. Party membership grew as younger people joined. Republicans gained a more youthful appearance and had reinvented itself informally as the new GOP Hawaiʻi. Governor Lingle is a member of The Wish List which is America's largest fundraising and campaign political action committee for Pro-choice Republican Women and The Republican Majority For Choice.

2002 gubernatorial campaign

Barred from seeking a third term, Cayetano announced his retirement from political service in 2002. Having become even more popular among Hawaiʻi residents, Lingle was nominated as the Republican candidate for the office of Governor of Hawaiʻi. As Hawaiʻi Democrats nominated incumbent Lieutenant Governor Mazie K. Hirono, it was one of the few gubernatorial races in which both major candidates were women.

Lingle ran on her "Agenda for New Beginnings," a campaign platform developed to promote Republican leadership and highlight the perceived failures of the previous forty years of Democratic administration of the state. It also cited differences between Lingle's message and the previous, more conservative platforms which Hawaiʻi Republicans had advocated.

Focusing less on her mayoral accomplishments and more on the message of reform, Lingle won the election alongside former state judge James Aiona, who became Lingle's lieutenant governor.

She took the oath of office upon a Tanakh.

First term as governor

Lingle enjoyed high approval ratings, usually around the 70% range, but her popularity had its limits. According to the Honolulu Star Bulletin, the Washington-based National Coalition for the Homeless ranked Honolulu in ninth place in its list of the nation's 20 "meanest cities" among 179 communities assessed, a downgrading of its 19th rating last year (2003). Among states, Hawaii was third meanest, behind California and Florida. Lingle spent much of 2004 campaigning for state legislative candidates (the legislature has a Democratic supermajority and she wanted to have enough members to block them from overriding her vetoes) and for President George W. Bush on the "mainland" (the states outside of Hawaiʻi and Alaska). When some polling late in the election showed Bush tied or narrowly leading Democrat John Kerry, Lingle jumped at the chance to help the Republicans carry her state for the first time since 1984. Vice President Dick Cheney even campaigned in the state. Ultimately, not only did Kerry win the state, but Republicans lost five seats in the state legislature, reducing their presence to near single-digits and causing the Democrats to consider Lingle more vulnerable than they initially expected. In spite of their new confidence, Lingle was re-elected after her 2006 re-election campaign.

As governor, Lingle has created a record surplus of $730 million, coming from athe budget's previous deficit of $250 million.. Many also credit her for leaving Hawaii with a very low unemployment rate. Like all governors, Lingle has signed a number of bills into law, including the Three Strikes Law and Sex Offender Registry Website Law.

In education, she has attempted to divide the State Board of Education into seven local school boards, but failed. One of the more controversial issues Lingle has championed is the practice of sending prisoners to the mainland, as opposed to building a new prison in Hawaii.

2006 gubernatorial election

In 2006, Governor Lingle announced her candidacy for re-election as Governor of Hawaii. In the Democratic Party, many people were speculated to run, but many of them declined, including State Senator Colleen Hanabusa, then Senate President Bobby Bunda, former Congressman Ed Case (who ran for U.S. Senate), U.S. Congressman Neil Abercrombie, and Big Island Mayor Harry Kim. Despite the difficulty of finding an opponent for Lingle, former State Senator Randy Iwase decided to run for Governor. In the primary election he easily defeated Waianae Harbormaster William Aila Jr., and ended up with former Big Island State Senator Malama Solomon as his running mate. Over the course of the campaign, Iwase was considered an underdog who had only spent $340,000, compared to Lingle's $6 million dollars; in his ads, he constantly attacked Lingle over her relationship with President Bush and yet offered no substantive proposals relating to the state government. Governor Lingle won by the largest margin in state history, 63 percent to 35 percent.

2007 Hawaii Superferry incident

In August 2007 the Hawaii Supreme Court invalidated a Lingle Appointee's exemption of the Hawaii Superferry from having to undertake an environmental assessment before operating in Hawaii waters. The Superferry is an 80 million dollar high speed ferry. Despite the Court's ruling, the ferry sailed to Kauai without an environmental assessment. It was met by protesters on surfboards who turned the ferry back to Oahu. Lingle summoned a massive police and Coast Guard response. She came to Kauai to warn protesters of the consequences of interfering the Superferry's operation and she was shouted down. The next day the Superferry was docked. In October a Maui judge issued an injunction prohibiting the Superferry from operating in Hawaiian waters until the legally required environmental assessment is completed. Lingle has vowed to seek a legislative exemption from environmental law on behalf of the Superferry.

2008 Drug Testing Teachers

In 2007 because of the arrests of four teachers for substance abuse, Lingle pushed a drug-testing clause into the teacher's contract just days before the union was set to vote. The clause caused quite a stir among teachers, mostly because many were torn between their civil right to privacy and a pay raise. The drug testing was approved by a margin of 62% to 38%; still the issue met more obstacles. The ACLU started preparing a class action lawsuit against Lingle, while the BOE was involved in a fight over the funding of drug testing. Apparently, after Lingle pushed through the clause, she also expected the Board of Education to pay for it. The BOE voted it down 7-0, stating, "It's just not a priority." Lingle has since threatened to withdraw the pay raises many teachers in Hawaii are getting, while the ACLU has continually stated Lingle is using fear tactics.

Family life

Lingle was married and divorced twice. She married her first husband, Charles Lingle, while in college, in 1972. Upon leaving California for Hawaiʻi, she divorced him in 1975 but kept the Lingle name. During her term as mayor of Maui County, Lingle divorced her second husband, Maui attorney William Crockett, to whom she was married from 1986 to 1997. Lingle is currently single and does not have any children.

Her uncle founded the Cutter Ford car dealerships in Hawaiʻi.

Electoral history

Hawaii Gubernatorial Election 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Linda Lingle	194,338	51.6
	Democratic	Mazie Hirono	177,186	47.0

Hawaii Gubernatorial Election 2006

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Linda Lingle (Incumbent)	215,313	62.5	+10.9
	Democratic	Randy Iwase	121,717	35.4

See also

• Washington Place

External links

• State of Hawaiʻi Office of the Governor official state site
• National Governors Association - Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle biography
• Follow the Money - Linda Lingle 2006 campaign contributions
• On the Issues - Linda Lingle issue positions and quotes
• Project Vote Smart - Governor Linda Lingle (HI) profile
• State of Hawaiʻi Republican Party

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