Governor Lingle has a very busy week here in Hawaii. She is way too busy to join the majority of the nation’s governors at a meeting with President-Elect Obama. At least that’s how she describes her schedule.

But take a closer look at Lingle’s plans for the week. There are what appear to be relatively routine internal staff meetings, two conservative radio talk shows, several glad-hand meetings with other officials, a few community appearances.

And there was yesterday’s press conference concerning the “Better Place” electric car plan. At least the gov was sensitive enough to be defensive about her decision not to attend the Obama session. After all, she blew a hole several weeks wide through her schedule prior to the electon in order to campaign for you-know-who and to bad mouth Obama.

I’m still not real clear on what Lingle actually announced. There was a “memorandum of understanding” between the battery company and Hawaiian Electric, sort of a conceptual agreement to try to reach real agreements on specific issues later. There was not, as far as I can see there, any commitment of state funds although I’m sure there will be a request for special purpose revenue bonds in the upcoming legislative session.

And was it really news? The Advertiser’s Christie Wilson had the story two months ago. And Lingle announced the negotiations back in May, according to another summary.

In any case, Better Place founder Shai Agassi has an ambitious vision but is still a very long way from the ability to carry out its plans.

And did the press conference really justify Lingle’s decision to miss the Obama session focusing on the economic crisis? I count myself in the group of cynics.

Meanwhile, today is a big day for Gannett, where the latest wave of layoffs are expected to be announced in its chain of local newspapers.

And Rick Daysog reports today that the Carlyle Group might just dump Hawaiian Telcom and let bondholders and other investors take the resulting losses in a short sale to a new investment group. Daysog is doing a good job staying on top of this story as it unfolds.

One question still to be answered is the fate of Hawaiian Telcom’s defined benefit pension plan, one of those legacy plans in which employees are promised a certain income based on years of service and salary history when they retire. As I recall, the old Hawaiian Telephone plan was actually overfunded when Carlyle bought the company from Verizon, but I don’t know whether they were able to raid those funds as part of the deal.

I noticed yesterday that the bankruptcy filing by Hawaiian Telcom was just one of a series of filings by the clump of related companies.

The Washington Post business blog also noted the bankrupcy:

Carlyle had put $425 million in Hawaiian Telcom Communications and borrowed almost $1.2 billion to buy the company from Verizon in 2005. But the telecommunications company struggled almost from the start.

Its collapse followed other reversals for Carlyle this year. In March, Carlyle wrote off a $700 million investment in Carlyle Capital, an offshore public company that invested in mortgage-related securities. Then Carlyle announced in July that it would liquidate Carlyle-Blue Wave Partners Management, which made similar bets in mortgages.

By the way, if you think your internet connection is a bit slow, join the crowed, you’re just enjoying part of the Hawaii experience.