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Governor Lingle Has One Chance To Escape The Catch-22 She Is In

07/05/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Tomorrow, Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle has a choice. She can either sign a civil unions bill into law, veto it, or let it become law without her signature. The problem is that only one of these options will likely result in her not upsetting the majority of Hawaiians. Governor Lingle could be smart and just let the bill pass into law without her signature rather than forcing a veto override showdown the same way that Governor Jim Douglas did in 2009 with the marriage equality law in Vermont.

While allowing it to pass into law without her signature might upset a lot of Conservatives, it will not upset them as much as if she were to sign it outright. If she vetoes the law, she upsets the Moderates within her own party as well as Democrats and the LGBT Community within Hawaii and risks making it harder in the future to attract business to the state. By doing neither, she has a change of mitigating any damage that occurs from the fall out of this bill becoming law and sets herself up to advance her career in either the House or the Senate. If she either signs it or vetoes it, she will alienate one or another group within the state and likely end up crashing her career.

The problem, of course, is that Governor Lingle opposes same-sex marriage and believes that civil unions will allow for this to occur. Of course, if we go back to the rigid gender rules enforced by her religious and cultural beliefs, then it would also mean that she would have to leave the Governorship of Hawaii and return to the home.

The Assembly of Hawaii is not going to try and override her vetoes this year because it creates too many problems for the election year. The bigger problem for the term limited Lingle is that her decision will determine the course of her career moving forward. If she alienates the moderates of either party and the Hawaiian LGBT Community, she may find herself horrifically underwhelmed against more reactionary Republican candidates. If she alienates the reactionaries in the Republican Party, she may find herself unable to do anything in the way of gaining traction.

Her best choice is to not sign the bill, let it become law, and then ditch the GOP and run as an independent for any higher office she wants.