Miss Universe
Pageant wins
legislative OK

Cayetano has said he'll sign
the $3.3 million appropriation,
which now goes to his desk

By Pat Omandam
Star-Bulletin

The state is headed down the runway to fund the Miss Universe Pageant.

All that's left is for Gov. Ben Cayetano to approve it.

The bill was among a handful of emergency appropriations passed yesterday by the state Senate, including $2.2 million to transfer 300 inmates to mainland prisons to ease prison crowding, and $9.7 million to ensure continuation of state mental health services to children and adolescents this fiscal year.

But it was Miss Universe that turned heads on the Senate floor yesterday. Senators, by 21-1 vote, passed a House bill that allots $3.3 million in general funds for the May event.

Since the House version was not amended by the Senate, it goes to Cayetano. He has indicated he will sign the measure.

Minority floor leader Sam Slom (R, Hawaii Kai) found himself the lone voice against the pageant.

If the pageant is such a good investment, Slom contends, then funding should have been done entirely by private funds or through the Hawaii Convention and Visitors Bureau budget, not from the general fund.

Slom fears funding a pageant may also open the door for the state to pay for other types of functions, and he wonders where lawmakers will draw the line.

"While I certainly recognize and appreciate pulchritude and all of the things that our Miss Universe has done for the state of Hawaii, I nevertheless feel that it is inappropriate for the taxpayers to pay $3.3 million to invest in the Miss Universe contest here, particularly since over $1 million goes directly to Mr. Donald J. Trump, the owner of the Miss Universe Contest," Slom said.

Minority leader Whitney Anderson (R, Kailua) supported the bill but had reservations because the Hawaii Convention Center could not accommodate the pageant, which will held at the Stan Sheriff Arena in Manoa.

"As usual, everything we've built we haven't been able to utilize the way we want," Anderson said.

The co-chairwomen of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, however, said the investment is one that this money really can't buy. Sen. Rosalyn Baker (D, West Maui-Lanai) said the event alone will generate an additional $9 million in local expenditures, with additional spin-off commercials and activities that will make the best use of state advertising dollars.

Sen. Carol Fukunaga (D, Ala Moana) added the two-week event will be a new way to position Hawaii and showcase its culture and international perspective to countries the state wouldn't normally advertise in.

"At a time that we're really trying to go beyond the traditional 'sun and surf' type of advertising, this is one of the best ways in which we might capitalize on the talents of many who are putting together the production," Fukunaga said.

Along with the funding, the House bill requires the visitors bureau to make three reports to the Legislature.

The first is due 30 days after the money is released, and the second after the pageant.

The final report is due shortly before the 1999 state Legislature convenes.

"It's time we stop whining about the economy and we start moving ahead," said Sen. Mike McCartney (D, Kahuku-Kaneohe).

"This is step one of many steps that need to be taken."