flASHback: Dark days at the Capitol
October 23rd, 2009 by David ShapiroI don't know where I get off making light of anybody else when I didn't have the brains to take a Furlough Friday, but here we go with our "flASHback" on the week's news that amused and confused:
- More than 20 state buildings are will be shut down two Fridays a month because of public worker furloughs. Lieutenant governor candidates have to move their support group meetings to the Convention Center.
- Gov. Linda Lingle said she'll keep showing up for work even though most of the government is closed. She's used to operating in the dark with nobody listening to her.
- School cafeteria workers and custodians not covered by the furlough agreement were on the job even though schools were shuttered. It was the best lunch and cleanest classrooms the kids never had.
- Congratulations to Hawai'i Sen. Daniel Inouye for becoming the third longest-serving U.S. senator in history. He's one of the few left who can remember when laws were written on stone tablets.
- The merger of go! and Mokulele airlines is experiencing some growing pains. Interisland operations in the first few days were so choppy that the pilots had to sleep with one eye open.
- Hawai'i diners are the cheapest restaurant tippers in the nation and far more easily annoyed about poor service than the national average, according to Zagats. The problem started when servers changed the greeting on their name tags from "Aloha" to "Ainokea."
- Police arrested a man in Waikiki after he allegedly enjoyed $155 worth of steak, lobster and cocktails for which he couldn't pay — an offense he's been convicted of 10 times before. His secret to repeated leniency is to never complain about the service.
- Four Waianae High School students were arrested and several others were pepper-sprayed by police in a campus brawl. Blame the influence of all the angry confrontations students see on reality TV shows, like the Neighborhood Board meetings on 'Olelo.
And the quote of the week ...
... from U.S. District Judge David Ezra in denying a restraining order on school closings:
"We have a train that is going down the tracks and like most trains it needs some time to stop and we do not have that time."
You'd think the 170,000 kids the train ran over would have at least slowed it down.
Tags: Daniel Inouye, Education, Furlough Fridays, Linda Lingle
October 23rd, 2009 at 5:51 am
Aloha Dave,
I have a small correction: the Hawaii State Capitol WILL BE OPEN on Furlough Fridays. See: http://hawaiihouseblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/capitol-open-on-furlough-fridays.html.
Otherwise, another week and another great list.
Mahalo!
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:24 am
No, the Capitol is not shutting down for Furlough Fridays. You really need to try checking facts once in a while, and to take some responsibility for the position you abuse. You're so sloppy its pathetic.
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:53 am
Thanks for pointing out the goof on the Capitol, which I fixed. The information I had listed the Capitol and 21 other state buildings being closed, but the revised memo from DAGS that Capsun points to lists only the other 21 buildings. Sorry I didn't catch the update.
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:56 am
Aloha ~
@ Wrong again ... where did Dave write that the Capitol is closed? He's says most of the government will be closed but I don't see particular reference to the Capitol. I personally do not appreciate your tone or attack. Whether he was correct or not does not deserve such vitriolic speech.
*****
It is my hope residents wake up today and collectively and resoundingly demand urgency from our elected officials. This current course of action, which has pushed us into Furlough Fridays and irreparably harms our Keiki and future, is unconscionable. From my point of view only Senator Hooser has demonstrated leadership. He alone has requested a special session to address this issue.
A special session is needed immediately as each party or group representative, to this point, has negotiated from narrow self-interests: the governor and general legislature were focused on balancing the budget not meeting our Keiki's education needs; DOE/BOE acted to satisfy terms set by politicians regardless of impact to parents or students; unions fought for teachers' conditions, not those of students; teachers were placed between a rock and a hard place and asked to vote on straight pay cuts or pay cuts that included days off. Rational self-actors will always chose the latter.
This issue warrants immediate debate in the public arena with all parties present and accountable. Options must be comprehensive; all funding sources, including federal as well as potential tax increases and various fund contributions, must be on the table.
We agree collectively on one thing: while we should be expanding learning opportunities, Hawai'i truly is moving in the exact opposite direction with furloughs.
A*L*O*H*A
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:57 am
@Wrongagain. Dave may or may not have made a mistake. But, please note while those who comment here may take issue with Dave or each other we try to be reasonably civil about it. Would appreciate it if you could do the same. It is not necessary to be rude and, frankly it just lowers credibility.
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:31 am
The BOE and Hamamoto has chosen to reduce school days instead of taking a serious look at administrative overhead. The actual classroom teachers continually demonstrate that they are dedicated and committed.
Why are we not questioning why classroom teachers are only 50% of DOE headcount?
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:56 am
Yeah, everyone stop picking on Dave.
After all, he treats everyone with the utmost respect, never selectively ignores facts that don't fit his arguments, never takes uninformed cheap shots at anyone, is a stickler for accuracy, is never pompous, arrogant and malicious while hiding behind a thin facade of civility, and is totally sincere about furthering meaningful public discourse regarding important issues that matter to everyone.
Scott, Max, you don't see the error because he took responsibility, FIXED IT, and said so.
That's a great start. Have a nice, civil, meaningful day, everyone. Seriously.
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:11 am
@Aloha Friday, Good morning, City Hall.
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:24 am
Never mind.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:04 pm
WooWoo821 and Dave. I was just wondering, since the non-teachers at the DOE belong to HEGA and UPW, could the BOE have made cuts to the admin and blue collar workers instead of just the teachers?
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:01 pm
@HItaxpayer I believe administrative workers at the DOE were covered by the just-ratified HGEA contract and are affected by furloughs essentially the same as the teachers. UPW hasn't settled its contract with the state and its DOE members are working on furlough days.
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:15 pm
I think the cuts should come via legislative furloughs. Make the leg session a month and return all of the saving to balancing the budget. Another benefit would be limiting the amount of time our elected officials have to screw things up.
Aloha,
Keahi
PS-no union contract to mess with either.
October 24th, 2009 at 7:29 am
Aloha Hltaxpayer ~
Been an active week and mahalo for your time ... we were unable to complete our discussion on "Loose cannons on the mayoral deck," you ended:
"What does this mean?" [I had written - The 'fair' share is established when we balance the budget.]
And you responded, "People you consider rich should pay all of the money they earn to the Government until the budget is balanced?"
In my earlier post, I had suggested our most rich sacrifice and pick up 30-40% of the shortfall. Why these figures?
From the latest available (2006) IRS data, America's most wealthy, the richest 1%, have seen a INCREASE in their income tax burden to about 40%. This is what frustrates you ... but is your frustration PONO?
Although the wealthiest 1% are paying more of the total tax burden, the average tax rate of this group has fallen from about 35% in 1986 to about 22%. Warren Buffet told Congress he paid 16.5% last year while his middle class workers paid 25%.
And, here's where PONO has been lost, while the tax burden on the richest 1% has increased to 40%, the richest 1% have INCREASED their total share of ALL wealth - meaning they have become more rich even when faced with increased taxation! This tells us their tax rate is too low.
In 1986 the richest 1% held about 12% of all income in America; by 2006 they had nearly doubled this amount to about 22%. DOUBLED!
As American companies outsourced millions of middle class jobs to foreign countries, worker pay flatlined. Adjusting for inflation, worker pay has increased ONLY 1% since 1970 (worker productivity in this time INCREASED by 60%). Where did this profit go?
Tied to this, average CEO compensation for top 100 CEOs in 1970 was about $1.3 million; by 1999 it was close to $40 million PER YEAR and the average salary of workers was around $35,000.
This is just more reasons why our middle class is collapsing. The middle class provides stability to our nation and democracy. We currently have a "demand" problem - and consumers make up 70% of our economic growth model.
We must put more money in the hands of public and private workers and to do this our richest 1% must sacrifice more for our country. This is PONO.
A*L*O*H*A
October 25th, 2009 at 2:23 am
Administrators who return to the classroom to teach - almost all of them are certified teachers - will be paid at the higher administrative rate of pay. Thus, there will be no savings.
This is SOP in all government agencies here in Hawai`i at all levels.. I know of one individual who was a very high-ranking civil service employee - a division head - for the City. He then served as the department head under a recent mayor. The current mayor took office and named someone else to be the department head. The first guy returned to being a division head and continued making his higher salary.
No $$$$ savings there - fortunately, the man is extremely competent so we taxpayers are getting our money's worth - but still the point is that administrators returning to the classroom will not save any money.
All public employees in Hawai`i are covered by the same rules of employment when it comes to these types of issues.