HILO, HAWAII:   In a response to overwhelming support from the East Hawaii community, Governor Lingle announced her official intention to veto HB 2972, better known as the “School Closure Bill.”  This bill was put on the Governor’s veto list after communities and families from Hilo to Waimea voiced their strong opposition.  In vetoing HB 2972, Governor Lingle pointed out how unfair the final bill was by targeting schools in East Hawaii from Waiakea to Waimea for closure and leaving schools on other islands intact.

            Governor Lingle acknowledged that Ted Hong’s letter of May 22, 2008, requesting her to veto HB 2972 was one of the first opposition letters to the bill she received.

            Ted Hong said that “The Governor’s veto is welcome news and a triumph of the community in East Hawaii in getting their voices heard.  Common sense would have told legislators that this bill was bad from the beginning, because our schools in East Hawaii would have been on the chopping block very early on due to enrollment numbers.  The bill was made worse when the Legislature unfairly singled out schools in East Hawaii for closure.  The credit for the Governor taking a closer look at this bad legislation belongs to the communities in East Hawaii.”

            In referring to the Governor’s veto, Ted said that East Hawaii Legislators were lucky to get the community involved to ask the Governor to veto this poor piece of legislation.  Ted remarked that, “The Governor should not have to clean up their (the Legislators’) own mess.  This was a bad bill from beginning to end and hopefully, it will rest in peace.”

            Ted wondered, whether East Hawaii Democrats who voted for the original bill and the final bill, have finally seen how wrong they were and be able to defend the Governor’s veto of this patently unfair legislation?