DUKE AIONA – I congratulate my opponent on receiving this endorsement from our president in this television ad, however, it does not change the fact that he would stall our progress on clean energy and hold us back from cutting by more than half our dependence on foreign fossil fuel by 2018, grow government at the expense of small businesses, and waffle on critical public education reforms.
Time and again, my opponent has not said whether he will cut programs, raise taxes or fail to deliver on his promises to grow the size and scope of government, which will increase the cost of living for Hawai‘i’s hard-working families and small businesses.
Lynn Finnegan and I are ready now with a detailed plan we formed with the bold ideas and real solutions of our citizens to immediately create job opportunities, strengthen the local economy and improve our education system for all of Hawai‘i’s children.
We will drive down the costs of doing business, especially for small businesses, by reducing the pending unemployment insurance premium increase, cutting business fees and assessments, reducing government-created delays, and opposing tax increases.
To facilitate immediate private sector job creation, we’ll expedite $946 million of capital investment projects and use the small business preference and set-aside to expend over $200 million on local procurement.
We’ll vigorously implement the Hawai‘i Clean Energy Initiative and enact policies that by 2018 will cut Hawai‘i’s dependence on foreign oil by more than half, which stands in stark contrast to our opponent’s plan for a new state bureaucracy that would take years to complete and derail our progress.