Linda Lingle

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

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

Previous to her gubernatorial administration, Lingle served as Maui County mayor, councilmember, and chaired the Hawaiʻi Republican Party. As of November 20, 2006, her approval rating stood at 71% with only 24% disapproval. ^[1]

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 whispering campaign that alleged that Lingle was a lesbian, and that because she was Jewish, she would abolish Christmas as a state holiday. ^[2]

Republican leadership

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 Democrat-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 The Nation'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, national focus turned to Hawaiʻi as it set up one of the few woman versus woman gubernatorial races in United States history.

Lingle ran on her Agenda for New Beginnings, a specially crafted 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 previous, more conservative platforms 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.

First term as governor

Lingle enjoyed high approval ratings, usually around the 70% range, but her popularity had its limits. 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 her greatest accomplishments are creating a record surplus of $730 million. Before that, the budget was in a $250 million budget deficit. She is also is credited for developing a strong economy, leaving Hawaii with a very low unemployment rate. She is also popular for signing in the Three Strikes Law Bill and Sex Offender Registry Website. In education, she has attempted to divide the State Board of Education into seven local school boards, but has failed. One of her biggest controversial issues is the practice of sending prisoners to the mainland, as opposed to building a new prison in Hawaii. ^[3]

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 Waiana 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.

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. ^[4]

Lingle does not have pierced ears and wears a trademark red lipstick. ^[5]

Electoral history

• 2006 Race for Governor
  • Linda Lingle (R) (inc.), 63%
  • Randy Iwase (D), 35%

• 2002 Race for Governor
  • Linda Lingle (R), 52%
  • Mazie K. Hirono (D), 47%

• 1998 Race for Governor
  • Benjamin J. Cayetano (D) (inc.), 50%
  • Linda Lingle (R), 49%

See also

• Washington Place

References

1. ^ [1] - approval ratings of all 50 governors
2. ^ http://starbulletin.com/1999/03/02/editorial/editorials.html
3. ^ http://starbulletin.com/2006/07/14/news/story01.html
4. ^ http://starbulletin.com/98/07/13/news/story2.html
5. ^ http://starbulletin.com/2002/10/31/news/story3.html

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