SOCIAL REALITIES EMERGE IN CAYETANO'S ADDRESS

After six long, dour years of budget battles and lowered
expectations, a different side of Gov. Ben Cayetano emerged yesterday
during his State of the State speech.

Cayetano proposed an activist program for the 2001 Legislature that
combined his traditional toughness with a new emphasis on social
programs that might cost the state now but pay off in the future.

The two most sweeping ideas in the speech were for a universal
preschool program aimed at needy children and a dramatic
treatment-instead-of-punishment program for nonviolent drug offenders.

Drugs: a dramatic break

The drug treatment program, modeled after plans in place in
California and Arizona, is a dramatic break with the traditional
approach taken in our war against drugs. It will be unpopular with
some in the law enforcement community and with those who -- quite
understandably -- focus on the crime rather than the cause.

But Hawai`i has already had enough good experience with its Drug
Court program -- a tough-love system in which closely supervised
treatment is an alternative to imprisonment -- to know this approach
can work.

Simply put, we have learned that we cannot arrest and jail our way
out of our drug problem. If this effort is approved, and if it is
given time and support enough to work, it would be a major Cayetano
legacy.

And speaking of legacies, we were pleased to hear the governor echo
our words on proposals for a major complex of entertainment,
education and scientific facilities at Kaka`ako Waterfront Park.

We have argued that this complex must be a "grand statement ... a
masterpiece of design that will instantly become a worldwide symbol
of Honolulu's rebirth." The governor used those words to strong
applause in his speech yesterday.

There have been arguments within the Legislature and outside that
Hawai'i has too many pressing needs to spend money now on an aquarium
or a museum complex. But Cayetano understands that a state -- a
society -- must move ahead on many fronts.

And as the state moves ahead on Kaka`ako, it must not lose sight of
that over-arching idea. This must not be a collection of buildings,
each worthy in and of themselves but not part of a grander whole.
This is an opportunity to make a bold, lasting statement that will do
the state proud for generations to come.

President Bush likes to describe himself as a "compassionate
conservative." Along the same lines, Cayetano's speech this year
portrayed him as a "tough-minded liberal."

Lawmakers would serve themselves well by heeding him carefully.