(Hawai'i Gov.) Lingle (R-Obviously) 'likely' will sign anti-rail petition

[KamaAina]

That's right, folks, with gas edging up past $4.30 a gallon on O'ahu, thousands of concerned citizens (35,000 at last count) have joined a petition drive to... stop a rail transit project?! :wtf:

And now the sitting governor is prepared to join their ranks. Never mind that she supported rail just a couple of years ago. You don't suppose this could have anything to do with the fact that Mayor Mufi Hannemann, who's pushing the project, is rumored to be running against Lingle's handpicked successor, Lt. Gov. "Duke" Aiona (R-Almost Bush Dumb) in 2010, now, do you? :tinfoilhat:

http://starbulletin.com/2008/07/03/news/story02.html

Gov. Linda Lingle threw her support behind an anti-rail effort attempting to let voters decide whether to move ahead on Mayor Mufi Hannemann's proposed $4 billion rail transit system.

Lingle, who has remained mostly quiet on the intensifying debate surrounding the transit project, indicated yesterday that she favors the petition created by Stop Rail Now, a local nonprofit group that wants to stop the system through a voter referendum....

"She's entitled to her own opinion. But she broached the subject of supporting rail and calling me to come together," Hannemann said, referring to Lingle's State of the State address in 2005, where she expressed support for mass transit and working with Hannemann. "Without those comments and her previous history of supporting rail, we would not be here today. I stand by the fact she made those statements, which basically revived this issue again."

Lingle declined to say whether she supported the city's current project, but her record shows she previously backed rail transit. In 2003 she unveiled a light rail proposal in West Oahu, and has told reporters she believed a route going to the Honolulu Airport would be vital to a transit system in Honolulu.

Boggles the mind. :eyes:

Oh yes, as for Stop Rail Now, it's fronted by one-note anti-tax crusader Cliff Slater -- and... wait for it...

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080505/NEWS01/805050359/1001

Charley's Taxi President Dale Evans.

I'm shocked. Shocked! Especially to find out that...

Stop Rail Now's original business address was the same as Charley's Taxi.

This continues a long, sad history of entrenched vested interests reflexively opposing any exansion of transit in Hawai'i, for fear of competition. (Note that the proposed airport route for the rail system was killed.) The problem is particularly acute on the Neighbor Islands, where the rental car companies have joined forces with the taxi companies to block virtually any transit; Maui, for instance, only launched a limited service, with headways of up to two hours, a few years ago.

[nxylas]

1. The anti-transit initiatives in my hometown were all spearheaded by one guy...

...a used car dealer. Funnily enough, our right-wing local newspaper always omitted to mention that fact when praising this public-spirited champion of motorists' rights :puke: