LINGLE WINS FEDERAL SUPPORT ON 'ICE'

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration will provide $900,000 over three
years to develop drug prevention and treatment programs on the Big Island,
where rising abuse of the drug "ice" has alarmed health and law enforcement
officials.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson announced that the state
had received the financial support after meeting yesterday with Gov. Linda
Lingle, who is here talking with top administration officials about Hawai'i
issues.

"These new funds will help support programs on the Big Island that are
proven to prevent and treat methamphetamine addiction," Thompson said.

Lingle said the state would create a "targeted strategy to reduce
methamphetamine use on the Big Island and to build capacity for a sustained
effort over time to keep the problem from occurring throughout our state."

Crystal methamphetamine, commonly known as "ice," is prevalent across
Hawai'i, but trafficking and abuse have been most severe on the Big Island.

A federal spending bill signed into law by President Bush on Thursday
includes $4 million to combat "ice" on the Big Island. Sen. Dan Inouye,
D-Hawai'i, has also helped obtain $350,000 in rural development money for
new drug lab equipment for Big Island police.

Thompson's announcement was the highlight of Lingle's first full day of
meetings here. The governor will attend the winter gathering of the
National Governors Association over the weekend and testify in the Senate
on Tuesday on behalf of federal recognition for Native Hawaiians. Lingle
will also travel to New York next week for meetings with bond-rating firms,
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

In between, Lingle has scheduled several media appearances to help raise
Hawai'i's national profile. Yesterday, she discussed state and federal
issues with reporters from USA Today and The Advertiser, and she is
expected to appear Monday on CNN's "Inside Politics."

One of the primary objectives of the trip is to press the Bush
administration to support federal recognition for Native Hawaiians and to
counter some of the opposition from Republicans in Congress.

Lingle, as a Republican, may have greater leverage with the Bush
administration than the Democrats in the Hawai'i congressional delegation.

Lingle talked privately yesterday with Attorney General John Ashcroft and
hopes to meet later with Interior Department officials and key Republican
lawmakers. She said she is outlining the cultural and legal context for the
recognition bill and trying to overcome arguments by some Republican
opponents that recognition would create race-based preferences for Native
Hawaiians.

The governor said Native Hawaiians should be recognized as indigenous
people, just as American Indians and Native Alaskans. "There is nothing
race-based here," she said. "It's not about favored treatment, it's about
equal treatment."