Source:
Maui Time, Maui News, Best of Maui, Maui Activities
The%20Exchange
Issue 9.43: Cunning Lingle
What Governor Linda Lingle said in an Apr. 11, 2006 Presidential Disaster Declaration request:
by ANTHONY PIGNATARO
April 20, 2006
“This disaster, which unfolded day after day, week after week, has been particularly difficult on residents who have continually battled flood waters and mudslides, and on state and county workers and volunteers who have responded during the past month and a half.”
What she didn’t say:
No one disputes that flood victims need all the financial help they can get, but it does seem that Lingle’s spending a lot more time asking for federal help than she’s pushing to find out why the Kaloko Dam on Kauai failed in the first place. Sure, she put state Attorney General Mark Bennett on the case, but he’s her political appointee and he might have a conflict of interest in that he once worked for the same law firm that’s currently representing the guy who owns the land around the dam. Right now Lingle’s successfully fending off calls from flood victims to appoint an independent investigator, but that might be increasingly difficult, given that this is an election year.