i L i n d . n e t

I was thinking yesterday about how different Gov. Lingle’s State of the State speech would have been if, instead of announcing the idea of buying the 850 acres at Turtle Bay, she had said something like this.

The financial problems experienced by the Turtle Bay Resort offer the public a unique opportunity–to bring more than 800 acres, including the majestic shoreline, into the public domain.

As soon as the foreclosure action was filed last month, I called my cabinet together to discuss the possibility of buying this very special area. Following several fruitful internal discussions, I began a series of confidential meetings with the relevant parties, including the owners and lenders, key legislative leaders, environmental organizations, North Shore and Kahuku community leaders, and directors of several large foundations who have funded similar preservation purchases in the past. Using the influence of my office, we have achieved a preliminary consensus on the feasibility of this effort and would like to make the outline of our idea public at this time.”

That would have been a display of leadership. Instead, we had another episode in which an unformed idea is dumped raw and undeveloped onto a public stage as sort of a challenge to others to step up and make it into something. I don’t think this kind of leadership by press conference can be effective in getting things done, although perhaps its an effective political tool for establishing one’s own brand and keeping it in the public eye. But those are two very different kinds of approaches. In this case, the public would have been better served by a display of real leadership in action rather than words.

Speaking of leadership, the Advertiser’s Derrick DePledge has another good story today mining state internal documents and emails for details of the decision to not demand an environmental assessment before giving the Superferry the go-ahead. Current state officials seem to be going out of their way to say that Gov. Lingle was never involved in the decision making. I suppose they think this keeps her out of the political muck. But it also presents the image of an uninvolved figurehead.

DePledge quotes a written response from Barry Fukunaga, former DOT administrator who is now Lingle’s Chief of Staff:

“No meetings regarding this or any matter relating to specific issues surrounding the development of the operating agreement, facility and systems improvements and other technical details were held with the governor.”

In any case, the Advertiser story is accompanied by scans of more of the documents which it has received, a good use of the web edition.

For those obsessively tracking developments in the presidential campaign, an Alternet story by Liliana Segura describes the pro-capital punishment positions of the leading Democrats, a very depressing read.

And here’s a cat story from a Black Press web site in BC: “Why Canada Post fears this cat“.