For Immediate Release (January 9, 2001)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 25, 2001

Contact: Rep. Galen Fox Tel.: [phone]

GOP: KO'OLINA CASINO PROPOSAL "JUICED?"

The House Republicans said today that not only is building a casino at Ko'Olina is a bad bet but the circumstances leading up to the proposal by Sun International Hotels, Ltd. looks suspiciously like the fix was in for this particular bet. The Republicans were referring to the reported fact that the Governor was accompanied on his Bahamas trip by a lobbyist and public relations executive who are both on the Sun International Hotels payroll.

According to the Republicans, "The Governor in his State of the State address made a big push for education and our Republican Caucus agrees. We can't imagine why the Governor would even entertain legalizing casino gambling when everyone knows it will have a negative impact, both socially and economically, on our community including children.

"The mindset is wrong," said Republican House Leader Galen Fox. "We keep looking for new ways to generate money, but what we need to be looking for are ways to correct what is really wrong -- we have a school system that is broken, so let's fix that system first."

The Republicans believe that the top priority for Hawaii is our public school system. They have proposed to fix the system by making the principals CEOs, paying them more, and putting them under contract to local school boards elected at the county/school district level.

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