Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 2, 1 February 1997 — OHA in Limho: Never Again [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA in Limho: Never Again

"WitA PwiAeH t CltHto hV cut* uAeAuUA to Ait tAc poo7€ft Hmaiiah* <h we cah oh ly eKpect f*or*e."

From the November eleehon well into January, OHA was at a standstill and I am troubled that we Trustees remained idle. This must never happen again, I had no argument with the chaUenge to the eleehon process based on alleged irregularities, although I'm sure our Supreme Court justices probably wished they had never heard of this case. But this was no reason for us to roU over and play dead

until the beginning of March, the deadline for all briefs, and then some for the justices to, I hope, expedite their decision. Legally, we have always been able to meet. True, we have been unable to organize; our leaders can't even be called lame ducks; their terms have expired. But I for one had no problem with their extended chairmanship at business meetings for purposes of procedure. This would have beat no meetings at all. As for the Board's make-up during this strange transition, according to the Attorney General, the "old" Trustees continued to serve de facto for emergency matters until the court case was sorted out and the Trustees-elect could be sworn in. In view of her letter, circulated throughout the office, I stiU don't understand otir administration's decision, announced Nov. 14, to throw the three defeated Trustees out of their offices and fire their staff. If this was not wrong-headed, it was certainly insensitive. I did understand the eagerness of the Trustees-elect to serve, but I was surprised that the lokahi trio resorted to suing defeated Trustees Akaka, Kealoha and Kamali'i. This to me only created the potential for a new problem, not lokahi. But at least nobody was suing OHA and the Supreme Court's ruling — to seat the unchaUenged Trustee-elect Haunani Apoliona and Trustee-re-elect Moses Keale — is most logical and appropriate. What is not logical or appropriate is inaehon from becoming caught up in the technicahties of what constitutes an emergency. Believe me, we have had no laek of emergencies at OHA, and we should have been declaring some instead of begging for a legal definition. For starters, there was the hiennium budget to be submitted to the Legislature. At election time, we had just begun to review an over-larded draft, immediately touted in the press as a done deal. Contrary to reports by Bob Rees and others, our Budget, Finance and PoUcy Committee had never voted on that bloated wish Ust. Only on Jan. 10, on our attorney's goahead, did we finalize something more reasonable. Meanwhile, we had wasted two months waiting for someone's signal that, yes, with the Legislature convening on Jan. 15, we were faced with an emergency. But the agenda for that meeting should have included more. We needed to finalize a grant to Habitat for Humanity to build houses for Moloka'i beneficiaries and others promised homes by this past Christmas. The votes were there and I hope that when you read this they have been cast — and that the teams of volunteers standing by in October are again available. We were also way behind on our Administrator' s evaluation, due Nov. 30. Her contract expired on Dec. 31, 1996. Most importantly, we needed to reaffirm our donations program, one of our most worthwhile services to our beneficiaries, through whieh the neediest Native Hawaiians ean receive up to $1,000. Several attorneys somehow recommended suspending these payments, with no notice to the rest of the Trustees — whether incumbent, de facto, elect or re-elect — until the program guidelines were revised. Could they have picked a worse time than the holiday season to deny these Native Hawanans support that we Trustees have determined to be their birthright? We have been besieged with caUs from people caught short because of the November floods — plus the usual pleas for help with a rent payment, an electric bill, groceries or a death in the family. It doesn't take a law degree to recognize these emergencies. With President Clinton's welfare cuts scheduled to hit the poorest Hawaiians in February, we ean only expect more. So let's get down to work. Now. DISCLAIMER: Portions of this article that appeared in the Honolulu Star-BuUetin of 1/11/97 contained several factual errors inserted by the Star-Bulletin copy editor.

EweHA AkAHA Trustee, At-Large