Linda Lingle
Linda Lingle addresses the National Park Service on the 65th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor Attack
6th Governor of Hawaii
In office December 2, 2002 – present
Lieutenant	James Aiona - R
Preceded by	Benjamin J. Cayetano - D
Succeeded by	Incumbent (2010)
Born	June 4, 1953 (1953-06-04) (age 55) St. Louis, Missouri
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Divorced
Profession	Newspaper Publisher
Religion	Judaism

Linda Lingle (born Linda Cutter on June 4, 1953) has been Governor of Hawaii since December 2, 2002. The National Park Service ( NPS) is the United States federal agency that manages all National Parks, many National Monuments, and other conservation The attack on Pearl Harbor (or Hawaii Operation, as it was called by the Imperial General Headquarters) was a surprise Military strike conducted by The Governor of Hawaii, also called Ke Kiaaina o Hawaii, is the chief executive of the State of Hawai{{okina}}i and its various agencies Events 1409 - The University of Leipzig opens 1755 - The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. The Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii, concurrently the Secretary of State of Hawaii, is the assistant chief executive of that U James R "Duke" Aiona Jr (born June 8, 1955) is the current Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii. Benjamin Jerome "Ben" Cayetano (born November 14, 1939) served as the fifth Governor of the State of Hawai{{okina}}i from 1994 Events 781 BC - The first historic Solar eclipse is recorded in China. Year 1953 ( MCMLIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of Literature or Information &ndash the activity of making information available for public view Judaism (from the Greek Ioudaïsmos, derived from the Hebrew יהודה Yehudah, " Judah " in Hebrew יַהֲדוּת Yahedut Events 781 BC - The first historic Solar eclipse is recorded in China. Year 1953 ( MCMLIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Governor of Hawaii, also called Ke Kiaaina o Hawaii, is the chief executive of the State of Hawai{{okina}}i and its various agencies Events 1409 - The University of Leipzig opens 1755 - The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. She was sworn in for a second term on December 4, 2006. "December 4th" redirects here For the song by Jay-Z, see December 4th (song. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.

Lingle holds a number of distinctions: first Republican elected governor of Hawaii since the departure of William F. Quinn in 1962, first county mayor elected governor of Hawaii, first female governor of Hawaii, first Jewish governor of Hawaii; the first twice-divorced governor of Hawaii; and the first governor not to have any children. The State of Hawaii ( or həˈwaɪʔiː Hawaiian: Mokuāina o Hawaii) is a state in the United States located on an Archipelago in the William Francis Quinn ( July 13, 1919 – August 28, 2006) was the Governor of the Territory of Hawai'i from 1957 to 1959 and A mayor (from the Latin māior, meaning "greater" is a modern title used in many countries for the highest ranking officer in a municipal government Twenty-nine women have been or are currently serving as the Governor of a U Judaism (from the Greek Ioudaïsmos, derived from the Hebrew יהודה Yehudah, " Judah " in Hebrew יַהֲדוּת Yahedut During the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City, Lingle served as chairperson of the convention during the absence of permanent chairperson Dennis Hastert from the convention floor. The 2004 Republican National Convention, the presidential nominating convention of the Republican Party of the United States, took place from August The City of New York See also Illinois's 14th congressional district special election 2008 John Dennis "Denny" Hastert (born January 2, 1942) is an

Prior to her gubernatorial administration, Lingle served as Maui County mayor, councilmember, and chaired the Hawaii Republican Party. Maui County is a County located in the US state of Hawaii. It consists of the islands of Maui, Kahoolawe, Lānai, The Hawaii Republican Party is the state affiliate of the Republican Party of the United States. On November 20, 2006, her approval rating stood at 71% with only 24% disapproval. Events 284 - Diocletian was chosen as Roman Emperor. 762 - Bögü Khan of the Uyghurs, Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ^[1]

Early years

Born Linda Cutter in St. Louis, Missouri 1953, Lingle moved with her family to Southern California when she was 12. Southern California, or So Cal, is defined as the southern portion of the U She graduated from Birmingham High School in Lake Balboa, California, then received her bachelor's degree in journalism cum laude from California State University, Northridge in 1975. Birmingham High School is a public Coeducational High school in the neighborhood/district of Lake Balboa in the San Fernando Valley section of Lake Balboa is a district in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles California. California State University Northridge (also known as CSUN, Cal State Northridge) is a public university in the San Fernando Valley, within the city limits

Soon after that, she followed her father to Hawaii, working first in Honolulu as a public information officer for the Teamsters and Hotel Workers Union. Honolulu is the Capital and most populous Census-designated place (CDP in the U TemplateInfobox Union for usage-->The International Brotherhood of Teamsters ( IBT) formerly known by the Later, she moved to Molokai, where she started the Molokai Free Press, a community newspaper which became a big success. Molokai (also Molokai) is an Island in the Hawaiian archipelago. A newspaper is a written Publication containing News, information and Advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called Newsprint.

County politics

In 1980, Lingle was elected to the Maui County Council, where she served five two-year terms. Maui County is a County located in the US state of Hawaii. It consists of the islands of Maui, Kahoolawe, Lānai, Lingle served three of those terms representing Molokai and two terms as an at-large member. Upon the 1990 retirement of Hannibal Tavares as mayor of Maui County, Lingle decided to challenge former Maui mayor and Hawai'i State Speaker of the House of Representatives Elmer Cravalho for the seat. Elmer F Cravalho, a member of the Democratic Party, is best known as Maui's Mayor from 1969 to 1979 Despite polls showing Lingle trailing far behind her Democratic opponent, Lingle proved victorious. The Democratic Party of Hawaii is an arm of the Democratic Party of the United States. The Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin newspapers declared the election one of the biggest upsets in Hawai'i political history. The Honolulu Advertiser is the largest daily Newspaper in the American state of Hawai{{okina}}i. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, based in Honolulu, Hawai{{okina}}i, is the second largest daily newspaper in the state of Hawai{{okina}}i (the largest She became the youngest person elected to the office of Maui County Mayor, at the age of 37, as well as the first woman. In 1994, Lingle easily won re-election.

Maui County, under the leadership of Mayor Lingle, implemented performance-based budgeting. Its' successful passage and execution earned for Lingle the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the Government Finance Officers Association for four years. The Government Finance Officers Association (or GFOA) is a Professional association of state provincial and local government finance officers in the United Mayor Lingle was also credited for attracting tourism and job growth to Maui County during a period when the state tourism industry was struggling.

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. Benjamin Jerome "Ben" Cayetano (born November 14, 1939) served as the fifth Governor of the State of Hawai{{okina}}i from 1994 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 whisper campaign alleging that Lingle was a lesbian, and that because she was Jewish, she would abolish Christmas as a state holiday. A lesbian is a Woman who is romantically or sexually attracted only to other women Judaism (from the Greek Ioudaïsmos, derived from the Hebrew יהודה Yehudah, " Judah " in Hebrew יַהֲדוּת Yahedut ^[2]

Republican leadership

Linda Lingle smashes a bottle of champagne against the sail of the USS Hawaii (SSN-776) during the ship's christening ceremony.

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 Democratic Party 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 which is America's largest fundraising and campaign political action committee for Pro-choice Republican Women and The Republican Majority For Choice. For other uses of The Wish List, please see The Wish List (disambiguation The Wish List is an organization whose In the US, a Political Action Committee, or PAC, is the name commonly given to a private group regardless of size organized to elect political candidates

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, it was one of the few gubernatorial races in which both major candidates were women. is an American politician She was the second Asian Immigrant elected Lieutenant governor of a state of the United States.

Lingle ran on her "Agenda for New Beginnings," a 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 the previous, more conservative platforms which 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. James R "Duke" Aiona Jr (born June 8, 1955) is the current Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii.

She took the oath of office upon a Tanakh. An oath of office is an Oath or Affirmation a person takes before undertaking the duties of an Office, usually a position in government or within a religious See also Old testament, Septuagint, Targum, Peshitta The Tanakh (תַּנַ"ךְ (taˈnax or; also Tenakh or Tenak is

First term as governor

Lingle enjoyed high approval ratings, usually around the 70% range, but her popularity had its limits. According to the Honolulu Star Bulletin, the Washington-based National Coalition for the Homeless ranked Honolulu in ninth place in its list of the nation's 20 "meanest cities" among 179 communities assessed, a downgrading of its 19th rating last year (2003). Among states, Hawaii was third meanest, behind California and Florida. 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). George Walker Bush ( born July 6 1946 is the forty-third and current President of the United States. Alaska ( Аляска Alyaska) is a state in the United States of America, in the northwest of the North American continent 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. } John Forbes Kerry (born December 11 1943 is an American Politician who is currently serving his fourth term as the junior United States Senator Vice President Dick Cheney even campaigned in the state. Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney (born January 30 1941 is the forty-sixth and current Vice President of the United States. 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, Lingle has created a record surplus of $730 million, coming from athe budget's previous deficit of $250 million. . Many also credit her for leaving Hawaii with a very low unemployment rate. Like all governors, Lingle has signed a number of bills into law, including the Three Strikes Law and Sex Offender Registry Website Law.

In education, she has attempted to divide the State Board of Education into seven local school boards, but failed. One of the more controversial issues Lingle has championed 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. Colleen Hanabusa is a Democratic member of the Hawaii Senate, representing the 21st District since 1999 and serving as the President of the Senate since 2003 Robert "Bobby" Bunda is a Democratic member of the Hawaii Senate, representing the 22nd District since 1994 and currently serving as Edward Espenett "Ed" Case (born September 27, 1952) is a Democratic Politician. S. Senate), U. S. Congressman Neil Abercrombie, and Big Island Mayor Harry Kim. Neil Abercrombie (born June 26, 1938) is a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Hawaii's 1st congressional For other uses of the name Harry Kim see the disambiguation page Harry Kim. Despite the difficulty of finding an opponent for Lingle, former State Senator Randy Iwase decided to run for Governor. Randall Y "Randy" Iwase (born December 1, 1947, in Honolulu) is a former Hawaii State Senator In the primary election he easily defeated Waianae 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.

2007 Hawaii Superferry incident

In August 2007 the Hawaii Supreme Court invalidated a Lingle Appointee's exemption of the Hawaii Superferry from having to undertake an environmental assessment before operating in Hawaii waters. The Hawaii Superferry is a Hawai{{okina}}i -based transportation company providing daily passenger and vehicle transportation between Honolulu Harbor on the island The Superferry is an 80 million dollar high speed ferry. Despite the Court's ruling, the ferry sailed to Kauai without an environmental assessment. It was met by protesters on surfboards who turned the ferry back to Oahu. Lingle summoned a massive police and Coast Guard response. She came to Kauai to warn protesters of the consequences of interfering the Superferry's operation and she was shouted down. The next day the assessment is completed. Lingle has vowed to seek a legislative exemption from environmental law on behalf of the Superferry.

2008 Drug Testing Teachers

In 2007 because of the arrests of four teachers for substance abuse, Lingle pushed a drug-testing clause into the teacher's contract just days before the union was set to vote. The clause caused quite a stir among teachers, mostly because many were torn between their civil right to privacy and a pay raise. The drug testing was approved by a margin of 62% to 38%; still the issue met more obstacles. The ACLU started preparing a class action lawsuit against Lingle, while the BOE was involved in a fight over the funding of drug testing. Apparently, after Lingle pushed through the clause, she also expected the Board of Education to pay for it. The BOE voted it down 7-0, stating, "It's just not a priority. " Lingle has since threatened to withdraw the pay raises many teachers in Hawaii are getting, while the ACLU has continually stated Lingle is using fear tactics.

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. Ford Motor Company is an American Multinational corporation and the world's fourth largest automaker based on Worldwide vehicle sales, following The State of Hawaii ( or həˈwaɪʔiː Hawaiian: Mokuāina o Hawaii) is a state in the United States located on an Archipelago in the ^[4]

Electoral history

See also

• Washington Place

References

1. ^ [1] - approval ratings of all 50 governors
2. ^ Honolulu Star-Bulletin Editorials
3. ^ starbulletin.com | News | /2006/07/14/
4. ^ Honolulu Star-Bulletin Local News

External links

• State of Hawaiʻi Office of the Governor official state site
• National Governors Association - Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle biography
• Follow the Money - Linda Lingle 2006 campaign contributions
• On the Issues - Linda Lingle issue positions and quotes
• Project Vote Smart - Governor Linda Lingle (HI) profile
• State of Hawaiʻi Republican Party
• "A Conversation with the Governor" Maui No Ka 'Oi Magazine Vol. Washington Place is a Greek Revival home in the Capital District in Honolulu Hawai{{okina}}i It was where Queen Liliuokalani was arrested during the overthrow Maui Nō Ka ʻOi Magazine is a Bi-monthly regional Magazine published by the Haynes Publishing Group in Wailuku Hawaii. 7 No. 1 (April 2003).
• "10 Most Intriguing People" Article about ten most important people in 2008 Maui politics. (Lingle is featured on page 6) Maui No Ka 'Oi Magazine Vol. Maui Nō Ka ʻOi Magazine is a Bi-monthly regional Magazine published by the Haynes Publishing Group in Wailuku Hawaii. 12 No. 3 (May 2008).