GOVERNOR LINDA LINGLE SETS FOCUS OF ONCE-IN-A-GENERATION ELECTION

News Release from www.Lingle2012.com

HONOLULU – "The people of Hawaii have a clear choice between an independent leader with experience making tough decisions and getting things done for the people of Hawaii, or an extremely partisan Washington insider with no record of accomplishments.” Governor Linda Lingle, candidate for Hawaii's open U.S. Senate seat told her supporters at a news conference this morning.

“My opponent has been, and continues to be a rubber stamp for a national agenda that takes positions that are not in Hawaii's best interest. She voted against improving trade with South Korea, when she voted against the Free Trade Agreement. She also voted against Hawaii when she voted against the Hawaii Air National Guard having new airplanes - the F-22s.

"We've all heard a lot in the past year about the ‘99-percenters’ and the ‘1-percenters.’ I think there's a new percentage that we need to focus on, and that's the ‘12-percenters.’ That's the number of American people who approve of the job that Congress is doing, and my opponent is one of the ‘12-percenters,’" Governor Lingle said.

Governor Lingle also proposed four common-sense solutions that will set a new tone in Washington, a tone that will prove to us that they really do understand the seriousness of the problem, and that they understand how the American people are feeling today about their actions in Washington.

"Number one, make Congress come to work. Right now their schedule is a Tuesday through Thursday schedule, I would propose that they work five days a week, three weeks a month, with one week for them to go home to their districts and talk with the people who sent them to Washington. This year, Mazie Hirono missed 127 votes in Congress. During that same period of time, Congresswoman Hanabusa only missed one vote.

"The second common-sense solution is to pass the ‘No Budget, No Pay Act.’ If Congress doesn't pass a budget, like they haven't for the past three years, they don't get paid.

"The third, cut the total budget of the United States Congress and the White House by 10%. Their budgets have grown by 50 percent between 2000 and 2010. This proposal is in alignment with the President's Simpson-Bowles Deficit Reduction Commission recommendation.

"Finally, the fourth common sense solution to set a new tone in Washington, is a three year freeze on the pay of the members of United States Congress. The average American's salary is around $40,000 a year. These members of Congress are getting more than four times that amount with automatic pay increases. We need them to prove to the American people that they understand what we are going through now across the country.

"The stakes in this election are too high to allow these problems to continue. The problems we face today in America, these are not Republican problems and they are not Democrat problems. These are American problems, and we are going to have to come together to get our nation back on track," Governor Lingle said.

Additional information on the Linda Lingle Senate Campaign is available at www.Lingle2012.com. Follow the campaign on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Lingle2012, on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Lingle2012, on www.YouTube.com/Lingle2012, and for Oceanic Digital Cable subscribers, on LL12, channel 110 (1110 for high definition).