The recent State Supreme Court decision in Konno vs. County of Hawaii will have the effect of voiding a number of state programs currently provided by private contractors if the Legislature fails to act. The Supreme Court judges attempted to fix something that is not broken and their ruling has the effect of nullifying private contract programs like A+ After School Care...The Konno ruling would eliminate existing employees. Other examples are airport security and Department of Public Safety Services such as maintenance workers, medical services at prison facilities, security at hospitals, and security at schools and libraries; hospital services, ambulance services, psychologists and psychiatrists, health centers such as Palama Health Facilities; Department of Human Services functions would include family adult elderly care, substance abuse, and child care programs; road repair, garbage collection and many other services... the list goes on and on. In fact, Department of Health out-sourcing contracts in 1996 was 541... in 1997 it was 307.

Government, business and labor must unite to improve Hawaii's economy. The private sector contractors who provide public services often do so at a reduced cost. Further, they pay taxes, boosting revenues for the state and assuring that the public payroll can be met. Placing the state in the impossible position of hiring only public workers to do certain tasks will limit our greatest resource, the hard working people of Hawaii.

The size of government could sink Hawaii's economy. The increased tax burden of requiring all public services to be handled by government employees would jeopardize these vital services. I urge public employees and their leaders to view privatization as an opportunity to reduce the present tax burden currently placed on all the residents of Hawaii.

For Hawaii's economy to grow, we must downsize government. Right now, the ratio of state government to Hawaii's overall economy is about 15% greater than it was just one decade ago. That means that the private sector economy (which pays for government) is that much smaller. We must shift a portion of government payroll, employees and functions back into the private sector, which will lower the cost of government, reduce the cost of the service through competition and efficiency, and increase tax revenues.

My concern, is to protect civil servants' rights while pursuing an efficient use of taxpayers' dollars to provide the public with the services it needs. We the government and union leaders must con-tinue to look after the civil service workers by encouraging openness, merit and productivity while preventing the spoils-system of political favoritism. We must also encourage competition which rewards productivity and stimulates economic growth benefiting again the people of Hawaii.

My job is to encourage competition between private employees and public employees and not eliminate or restrict either. If there are no jobs in the private sector, soon there can be no public employees. The former pays for the latter. If the Legislature does not act to retain the right to contract out public services, under the Konno decision, many services can no longer be done by private contractors that have provided these services at cost savings. With our present budgetary difficulties there's a very good chance they will no longer be done at all.

The people of Hawaii are extremely resourceful as an island state, we share the Aloha spirit and depend on each other to provide a quality of life that all can enjoy. Union leaders and business owners, lawmaker and laborer, we must all work hand in hand to improve the economy of our state and share the responsibility of providing vital services to ensure a safe and bright future for our children.

Governor Cayetano proposed that state workers accept a decreased, 35-hour workweek in lieu of a pay increase. Like his earlier plan to transform Diamond Head into a vast amusement park, the Governor may merely be "thinking aloud."

Such a diminished workweek, if implemented, could do irreparable damage to the morale of beleaguered state employees and the people of Hawaii. Many of these workers are already working in excess of 40 hours to meet minimum service goals. Forcing these conscientious workers to cram 40 hours' work into 35 would be unfair. And if the workers could not complete their duties, the people of Hawaii would suffer.

Second, if the Governor's goal is to increase the wages of state workers while limiting the services provided to the public, the Governor should have proposed eliminating one of eight state full-time positions through attrition - hence no one would be involuntarily losing a job - and giving the remainder a 5% pay increase.

Public workers' wages and benefits should roughly parallel those earned by comparable workers in the private sector. Hawaii's industries have not enjoyed real growth in several years, and businesses are not offering pay increases to their workers. The Governor should recognize that under these economic conditions, proposals to lower productivity per public sector worker while maintaining wages is unrealistic.

In a recent publication, there was a discussion by Mufi Hannemann and Richard Kelley in an article headlined, "What's needed to get our economy moving." However, with all due respect, I think they were both on the wrong track. Actually, Hawaii's economy is a basket case in a terminal stage. With people like Gary Rodrigues, head of the United Public Workers Union, running the State and Supreme Court there is no hope. When asked why he didn't run for governor, Gary reported to have said "Why should I take a demotion?" The only way to save the economy of the state of Hawaii is to do the following, which no one has the guts to do:

1. Abolish all government employee unions - or at least rescind their right to strike.

2. Pass a right to work law so that no one is forced to join a union and pay dues to elect more good ol' boys that workers may not support. Everyone should have a choice to join a union or not join a union.

3. Cancel the Little Davis Bacon Act that forces the taxpayer to pay $100,000 for a temporary classroom that any licensed contrac- tor in the state would be happy to build for $20,000.

4. Have a Con Con every 10 years so that the status quo of being dominated by the "chosen few" does not go on forever.

5. Reform the elected officials retirement system that allows them to serve 17 years part time in the Legislature or City Council, then being appointed by their buddy mayor or governor to an $80,000 a year job that they are not qualified to do, and then 3 years later, regardless of age, retire drawing $50,000 per year for the rest of their life.

6. Abolish the Jones Act so that foreign ships can unload in Hawaii first before going to California and being subjected to the ILWU's excessive, unnecessary, unproductive charges; then being loaded again onto a Matson ship so that the consumers of Hawaii have to pay triple port charges on top of a double freight charge.

7. Honor and promote our teachers on merit and teaching ability. Weed out the incompetence and abolish seniority.

8. Rescind the State's unfair presumption clause that requires an employer to prove that his employee was not injured on the job „ A most impossible requirement.

9. Abolish ambulance chasing attorneys contingency payments so that the truly injured receive the bulk of any monetary settlement rather than their unscrupulous attorneys.

10. Phase out at least 10% of the number of State and County workers and hire new hires on their potential rather than who they know.

11. Believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, Senator Sam Slom and all the other good things in life.

And remember the real life golden rule, "You can't have employees if you don't have employers!" and right now there is a mass exodus of these entrepreneurs from Hawaii. Wake up Hawaii before there are no jobs, there is no one paying taxes, there is no economy left.

I'm glad that Walt Disney isn't alive to see what has happened to his company's reputation for decency and excellence. Columnist Joseph A. D'Agostino has recently chronicled Disney's dizzying descent.

D'Agostino begins his piece by noting that Disney subsidiary will distribute The House of Yes, a supposed comedy that involves the incestuous relationship between male and female twins and, according to the Dallas Morning News, one twin's obsession with the assassination of John Kennedy, "which she erotically recreates with her brother."

Some other Disney assaults on traditional values include Priest, the story of, you guessed it, a homosexual Catholic priest and the usual lopsidedly salacious portrayal of the Catholic hierarchy. In order to distribute Kids, Disney subsidiary Miramax Films' executives created a different company following the movie's reception of an NC-17 rating. Kids, produced by "longtime artistic pornographer Larry Clark," according to D'Agostino, features graphic teenage sex acts, even worse language, a brutal rape scene and extensive drug use.

When Clerks received an NC-17 rating in 1994, Miramax hired Alan Dershowitz of Harvard and got a special R rating on appeal for a film loaded with graphic verbal descriptions of sex acts.

Trainspotting served as nothing more or less than the glorification of heroin addiction, according to its critics.

In addition to its Miramax subsidiary, Disney also controls Touchstone, which distributed Jefferson in Paris in 1995. This film deliberately distorted history and Jefferson, portraying the writer of "the Declaration of Independence as a blatantly adulterous liar." Disney's deliberate lying in Nixon caused Diane Disney Miller to write to Nixon's daughters to say she was "ashamed that the Walt Disney Company, the company my father created, is associated with this disturbing distortion." Disney officials had no comment.

Another Disney subsidiary, Hollywood Pictures, distributed Powder, directed by a convicted child molester, and even The New York Times noted that "parents may be uncomfortable with the sexual overtones" of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Hollywood's Hyperion division also published Growing Up Gay aimed at homosexual youngsters.

The Lion King has one scene where a reclining lion fluffs up a small dust cloud that turns into the letters "SEX," and Nathan Lane, the voice of Timon, has claimed that Timon and Pumbaa, the warthog, "are the first homosexual Disney characters ever to come to the screen."

Disney divisions in Florida have deliberately removed a Christmas exhibit that formerly featured the Christ child and traditional values and replace it with "tropical Santas and lighted boat parades," and extended benefits and special park days to homosexuals and lesbians.

Disney's arrogance appears unbounded. Disney honcho Michael Eisner's salary of $9,783 per hour is more than one of his Haitian employees making Disney-licensed merchandise can earn in nearly 17 years, and Eisner gave his buddy Michael Ovitz a severance package worth over $100 million when Ovitz decided to leave after only 14 months at Disney. Leo Donavan, Jesuit priest, president of Georgetown University and longtime friend of Eisner and Bill Clinton, has been invited to join the Disney Board to soften Disney's anti-Catholic image.

But Mr. Eisner's dalmation cannot change his spots, and more and more people see in Disney a growing threat to decency and dignity, a threat that deliberately trashes one of America's finest entrepreneurs and the company he founded.

Let's face facts. A person who wants to successfully make politics a career has a big job ahead. First, he or she must learn to be attentive, look alert and interested no matter how long the boring testimony drones on. Then the skill of extorting money without using actual extortion must be mastered. Even more demanding is the developed skill to speak on both sides of any issue. I once went to two separate luncheon functions at organizations that were opposed to one another on pending federal legislation. The late Senator Spark Matsunaga spoke at each. He was supporting both sides. But only one side at a time, of course.

Finally, to excel, the professional must learn to handle accusations and controversy in the EXONERATIVE PASSIVE VOICE.

Example: President Clinton said, "Mistakes were made." Now that's a professional at work!

Politics is where the power is. But it should not be that way. If we restricted all our governments to their legitimate functions, you would get your power back and Bill Clinton and the rest would lose theirs.

With revenues down, Hawaii's taxing authorities have stepped up collection with increased levels of aggressiveness. Felony convictions have occurred for businesses that did not make withholding tax deposits quickly enough. Failure to pay your GE tax on time could now get you a criminal prosecution rather than the civil penalty and interest of years gone by. Businesses who have paid rent and wages first and allowed their excise taxes to run, accruing penalties, may not want to do that anymore. If you are concerned you may wish to seek professional advice. Attorney (and SBH member) Stephen Pingree has written some excellent articles on these matters.

There is just too much hostility being directed at small business people by our state government. The responsibility for our bad economy rests largely with our government. They give lip service to deregulation, tax cuts, etc., but the situation just continues to get worse. The worse they make the economy the harder they squeeze business for taxes to keep the bloated and ineffective state government afloat. You can be sure private business will not get any breaks at the cost of reductions in the size and expense of maintaining the big civil service unions.

We have the most beautiful place in the world to live in with lovely weather and many things to offer. Yet we have one of the highest out migration rates of any state. Young energetic people are leaving Hawaii in droves to places that nature has made barren deserts, such as Nevada. Shouldn't this tell our leaders something.

Our current administration promises to increase economic activity by more government spending, forgetting it would seem that all government must ultimately be made at the expense of more efficient private spending. This is not to mention that the government spending will reduce tax revenues by reducing private economic activity. This will in turn accelerate the rapaciousness of our tax collectors.

As an accountant, I wouldn't advise anyone to go into business in Hawaii, to move to Hawaii to seek employment, or to invest here. Our economy has been crippled by our own government and will not recover until there is a fundamental paradigm shift among our elected officials.

A close friend of mine in Lithuania once presented me with a fabulous gift „ it was his old Russian passport. He was delighted to get rid of it because it represented years of Russian oppression against Lithuanians. This passport wasn't just for travel abroad. No, it was for controlling every action of people within the Soviet Union„an internal passport. By requiring it for everything, the police could follow and regulate my friend's every move. He was ecstatic to get rid of that hated passport when the Soviet Union finally broke up!

I'm sure glad we don't have anything like it in the U.S.- or do we? Over the past decade the U.S. government has required us to show passports, or similar proof of citizenship, to get a job. Without submitting the loathsome I-9 Form an employer can face severe penalties. Yet, most people dutifully comply, never questioning the right of officials to interfere with work contracts. People scoff at the notion that this requirement might one day intrude on their freedom.

I can recall signing up for my first Social Security card. Right on the front of the card it said in bold, reassuring words: "Not to be used for identification." Funny, isn't it? Nowadays it is the identification for everything! One can hardly imagine driving a car, applying for a bank account, or starting a business without it. Such mandates take on a life of their own as they evolve far beyond their original intention.

But most Americans see this internal passport control as a necessary method of controlling immigration. "If immigrants are allowed to work," they conclude, "then it will be more difficult to prevent them from coming."

Nevermind that this is a nation of immigrants in which everyone, or their ancestors, moved here for opportunity, or to flee from tyrants, or both. Immigration in the past always contributed to the riches of this country. "But no longer!" say the descendents of past newcomers.

A couple months ago a fruit grower was charged with the crime of bringing workers to Kauai from Mexico by offering $6 an hour plus room and board. Presumably the workers will be able to avoid prosecution before deportation if they testify against the farmer who offered them the job. How tragic!

Farmers don't look abroad for workers unless there is already a labor problem here. Is there any doubt who is willing to work harder and at lower cost? The employer, the employees, and the consumers were all satisfied. Only competitors and their official protectors are not satisfied with such competition.

Isn't it ironic that labor immigration, once the foundation of economic success for agriculture here in the islands, is now a crime? It follows that if the workers cannot come to Hawaii, then, as with sugar, agriculture and industry will eventually move abroad to them.

Immigrants are also blamed for the welfare benefits that have been handed them by government. But they are not the ones to blame. It is American politicians who are to blame. While preaching to the world about the virtues of the free market, the politicians have carefully crafted a message that it is OK to take a handout, but not OK to work in this country. Handouts are generous and work is illegal! And the hard working immigrant becomes the scapegoat when things fall apart.

The greater tragedy is that people in this country have forgotten their own roots. Rather than welcoming new newcomers for their energy and verve, for their industry and talent, for their fortitude and courage „ too many Americans scuttle the enterprise that built this country. And in eagerness to thwart competition, Americans acquiesce in giving up another measure of freedom. Get used to hearing the corner policeman say, "May I see your passport please?" Except that he may not say "please."