News Release from Hawaii Republican Party  October 25, 2014

With just 10 days left, the race is a dead heat and Senator Ige is on defense for his policies over the past four years. Leadership failures by Senator Ige and Governor Abercrombie continued to grab headlines this week, and his running mate Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui was still unable to defend Ige's neighbor island gaffe from the final televised debate.

IN THE NEWS...

Another Small Business Group Endorsed Duke For His Policies That Will Create Better Paying Jobs (National Federation of Independent Business). "Small businesses are not smaller versions of bigger businesses. They have different difficulties in remaining solvent, and because of that, America’s largest small-business association today endorsed Duke Aiona for governor, citing his superior record on Main Street, Hawaii issues." (10/23)

A New Poll Shows Duke Within The Margin Of Error And Senator Ige's Support Hitting A Ceiling (Honolulu Star Advertiser). "The Tarrance Group, a Virginia-based firm that has done polling on the Hawaii governor's race on behalf of the Republican Governors Association, has the campaign between state Sen. David Ige and former Lt. Gov. James 'Duke' Aiona closer than a new Hawaii Poll. According to a polling memo released by the RGA, Ige, the Democrat, holds a small but consistent lead over Aiona, the Republican. The weekly telephone surveys were taken among 800 likely voters statewide. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points." (10/23)

Senator Ige's Running Mate Couldn't Defend Ige's Lack Of Attention To The Neighbor Islands Before He Ran For Governor Despite 29 Years In The Legislature (Hawaii News Now). "Well, you know, I think one of the most important things that we do in the Legislature when we're there was, you know, we do a lot of site visits during the interims. And so, I think it's important because, you know, many of the issues that are happening on the neighbor islands may not be front and center. They don't get picked up often times by mainstream media. And so, you know, I think David having that opportunity to go county by county, island by island, I think provided him with a better insight as to what some of those issues are on the neighbor islands. And so I'm really glad he's continued to focus on making the neighbor islands really part of his administration should he be elected in November and I look forward to being part of that team as well." (10/22)

Under Senator Ige's Education Budget Leadership, Students Are Facing Bus Route Cuts And Higher Lunch Prices (Honolulu Star Advertiser). "The Department of Education says it needs $19 million in emergency funding from the Legislature to cover shortfalls in its school lunch and bus transportation programs, or officials warned that meal prices might go up and some bus routes could be eliminated. The two programs, among the department's largest operations, are facing shortfalls for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, Amy Kunz, the department's chief financial officer, told the Board of Education on Tuesday." (10/22)

A New Report Found Hawaii Has The Worst Gas Prices In The Country Under The Ige-Abercrombie Policy Agenda (Forbes). "The price of gas has fallen fastest in Missouri, down 18% to $2.77 a gallon — which is also the cheapest gas in the nation. On the flipside is Hawaii, which suffers the most expensive gasoline at $4.07 a gallon, and has also seen the smallest decrease in price during that time, just 6%." (10/22)

Senator Ige's State Hospital Crisis, For Which He Has Received Criticism, Continued To Get Worse (Honolulu Star Advertiser). "Already on unstable financial footing, Hawaii's public hospitals recently learned they must add millions to their contribution for retired workers' health benefits. The Hawaii Health Systems Corp.'s network of 12 hospitals must come up with another $69.2 million to fund retiree health insurance costs in fiscal 2016 and 2017. That brings HHSC's projected deficit to $197.4 million after state appropriations in those two years. In addition to the newly discovered retiree costs, HHSC was already expecting a budget shortfall of $128.2 million in the two years due in part to the state Legislature not appropriating enough to the hospitals to cover expenses, which exceed income." (10/19)