WHAT DID HANNEMANN, SCHATZ AND CALDWELL PROMISE HGEA?

HONOLULU— Chairman Jonah Ka’auwai released the following statement on the Hawaii Government Employees Association’s endorsement of Mufi Hannemann, Brian Schatz and Kirk Caldwell today:

“Randy Perreira is cashing in on promises by Democrat contenders for Governor, Lt. Governor and Honolulu Mayor today.  Back in October, Hannemann led the four county mayors in holding up contract negotiations with HGEA and Gov. Linda Lingle to work on ‘language’.  What Hannemann was really doing was helping assure HGEA bosses would not be impacted by the economic downturn the way Hawaii’s families and small businesses were.

“What else was promised in exchange for the endorsement of Hawaii’s largest public union?  How much will this cost Hawaii if any of these candidates wins election?  Hawaii’s hard working public union members will make a choice in November.  They will vote to cut taxes, to practice fiscal responsibility in government and to improve Hawaii’s economy by keeping money in the hands of the families who worked hard to earn it.  None of the candidates endorsed today has a record to show they are fiscally responsible.

"The HGEA Union Bosses have made it clear that a prerequisite for their endorsement is a commitment from candidates to raise the GET tax in order to pay them off.  Hannemann, Schatz and Caldwell need to come clean with Hawaii voters and tell them how big of an increase they promised so we know just how much more in taxes we can expect to pay if they get elected."

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