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In spring 1994, Roth interviews Benjamin Cayetano, then Lieutenant Governor and the Democratic candidate for governor, in a one-hour call-in special. Cayetano makes education reform his central theme, arguing that Hawaii's centralized top-down bureaucracy must give way to school-level decision-making through lump-sum budgeting and community empowerment. He proposes a voluntary buyout—a $10,000 to $15,000 pay increase—to persuade principals to leave their union, on the grounds that management should not bargain against itself. On the economy, Cayetano identifies higher education and healthcare as growth niches, citing demand across Asia and the Pacific. He opposes building new prisons at $70,000 to $100,000 per bed, preferring to shift resources to prevention and early childhood education. After a caller raises the just-ended HGEA strike, Cayetano criticizes across-the-board percentage raises for widening the income gap and pledges to negotiate for greater parity on the lower end of the pay scale. On sovereignty, he calls it "an idea whose time has come" and pledges to lead a non-polarizing dialogue. He supports domestic partnerships for same-sex couples and would leave the sanctioning of marriage to religious institutions. He opposes a handgun ban while supporting stricter gun regulation.
Transcript
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Companion newspaper commentaries
Commentaries by the guests, published in The Honolulu Advertiser around the broadcast.
