i L i n d . n e t

If you’re reading this, it means that we must still have power in Kaaawa and we survived the high wind that whipped through here starting around 2 a.m. Whew.

Mention the difficult financial situation facing Hawaii and other state and municipal governments and what comes immediately to mind? Perhaps not gambling. But that’s what occurred to Sen. Donna Mercado Kim, who has taken over the reins of the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

The Star-Bulletin’s Richard Borreca caught it right away.

Next up was Sen. Donna Kim, the new head of the Ways and Means Committee.

When asked about declining revenue projections, she said the “G” word – gaming. While Kim didn’t endorse legalization of gambling, she said some form of gaming should be looked at as a way to boost state revenue.

The state’s anti-gaming lobby is legend. Hawaii and Utah are the only states that have no state-sanctioned gaming. And yes, it is true that gambling has not been the same sort of treasury-builder that it once was.

But gaming generates $23 billion for the 48 other states. The growth rate has started to slow. The independent Rockefeller Institute calls gaming “a blue chip stock – reliably generating large amounts of cash, but no longer promising dramatic growth in revenue.”

I’m not one of those ideologically or religiously opposed to gambling, but I am surprised that the idea has come up so early in the current crisis.

Is Congressman Neil Abercrombie rethinking his all-but-publicly-announced 2010 bid for governor? That’s what some folks around the Capitol have been hearing. The difficulty of building a statewide campaign organization and raising the necessary funds for a gubernatorial run, coupled with Neil’s comfortable position in Congress and prospects for new opportunities with the incoming Obama administration, are reportedly behind the rethinking.

No one claims any decisions have been made, but the odds of his jumping into the governor’s race appear to be dropping down towards even. Or so goes the gossip.

Speaking of gossip, the rumor mill at the University of Hawaii’s Manoa Campus is busy wondering whether Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw has applied for the job of Chancellor at the University of California Davis and whether she’ll be on the short list considered for the position.

The current chancellor is stepping down in June 2009, and the search for his replacement is underway.

Hinshaw came to Hawaii in 2007 from Davis, where she had been second in command. Many in Manoa believe Hinshaw is actively interested in the position back at Davis.

Here’s another vintage photo found among my father’s collection.

It appears to be a war bond rally, probably during the early part of WWII. I believe the speaker is Honolulu Mayor Lester Petrie, who took office in 1941. That’s my dad, John M. Lind, in the suit. Just a bit of vintage Hawaiiana.

Just click to see a larger version of the photo.