Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 1, Number 1, 1 February 1984 — Lt. Gov. Makes Observations [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Lt. Gov. Makes Observations

(Editor's Note: With this issue of Ka Wai Ola 0 OHA, we begin an interview series with Lieutenant Governor John David Waihee III. This first part finds the Lt. Gov. making a few observations about OHA, how its doing and what it has done in a very short span of three years. This interview series was eonducted by Ed Miehelman, OHA Public Information Officer.) Lt. Gov. Waihee was born on May 19, 1946, in the planlalion town of Honokaa on the Big lsland. He grew up in Honokaa and on Hawaiian Homestead land at Kuhio Village in the Kamuela- Waimea area where his mother stil/ lives. Waihee and his wife, Lynne Kobashigawa Waihee, are the parents of two ehildren, John IV, and Jennifer. The state s second highest executive officer is a 1964 graduatc of Hawaiian Mission Academy where his wife presently is a teacher. He is also a graduate of Andrews University in Michigan and has completed the requiremcnts for a master 's degree in Urban Planning from Central Michigan University. During the late 1960's, Waihee scrved as Assistant Directorof Community Edueaiion in Benton Harbor, Mieh. After returning lo Hawaii, he became a program evaluator and planncr in ihe Honolulu Model Cities program and Senior Planner in the City and County of Honolulu 's Offtce of Human Resources. He earned his law degree in 1976 as a mcmber of the University of Hawaii 's first graduating class. Following graduation from law school, Waihee began ihe practice of law. In 1979, he opened his own law firm — Waihee, Manuia, Yap, Pablo and Hoe. Waihee's first elective offtce was as delegate to the 1978 Constitutional Convention where he served as Majority Leader. In 1980, he was elected to the State House of Representatives. Two years later, he ran a successful race for Lieutenant Governor and was inaugurated Dec. 6, 1982. PART I OHA: Mr. Waihee, as majority leader in the 1978 Con Con, you were certainly as mueh responsible as anybody else for the passage of the constitutional amendment whieh created OHA. We've just eompleted these three years of operation now. I wonder if you could give us your evaluation of our accomplishments and non-accomplishments. How do you think we are doing and where do you think we need to concentrate more, just an overall feeling of what the "baby" has done. WAIHEE: I haven't really thought it out. But, my sense is that I think OHA ought to be actually complimented for coming as far as it has. People fail to realize that the constitutional amendment was just passed in 1978, and, I don't think that OHA really got implemented until some time in 1981. So weareonly talkingabout a three-year span and let's look at what has happened in three years. Within that three-year period the agency is functioning; it is a full-grown agency; it's recognizable within the community; it's picked up staff — high quality staff; and these are just the form of things. In terms of substance, 1 think it has made impact, tremendous impact given that short period of time on a number of native

Hawaiian issues. I think its relationship with the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation has been productive. People have been sitting around for years not knowing what to do about their land claims and OHA has played a part in helping them. I think OHA has also played a part in bringing to the forefront the issue of ceded lands. And 1 think more importantly, whether we agree or disagree, the existence of a Board - of Trustees, like the OHA Trustees, has created a focal point for Hawaiian issues.

It never really existed before. It was always out there, but the Trustees, because of the nature of their offices constantly dealing with Hawaiian issues on a statewide basis, have created a forum. From my perspective, when you look at it, for what is at best a three-year span of time, that's not bad. There are many agencies that have been around a lot longer and you don't get as mueh of an impression. That's not to say that things are where I, or even the people of.OHA, would want them to be. There is still a lot more we need to do and I think one of the most important, and, probably the least tangible, things the OHA trustees should be and are trying to do is to develop some kind of consensus as to where the eommunity should go. And that's not the same as surveying the community, finding out what the popular opinion is at āny given time. What I'm talking about is to develop among the trustees a sense of direction, a consensus among themselves that in a sense reflects their reading of the broader Hawaiian community. In other words, develop leadership as opposed to being individual leaders. OHA: Collective leadership? WAIHEE: Yes, more of a collective sense. The way I'm using the word is sort

of like this: There was a speech onee, a long time ago that really impressed me. The speaker made that distinction. He talked about how a leader is just one individual leading a group of people and when that person is gone or when people tire of him that's it. Leadership is more the way the word sounds. It's like a ship built of leaders — when a ship is made of little planks and all of these planks float in a direction, it's kind of like that. I think we need to get from OHA, first the realization that they have a sense as a group of where we ought to go as a Hawaiian eommunity. That should be the number one priority. And obviously in the process of developing that, they are going to have to spend some time with the Hawaiian eommunity. This is just as important so that they ean project, so that they ean talk about, so they ean speak in a sense clearly on our issues. This is most vital . . . an immediate goal of the trustees. As far as what else OH A should be doing in terms of substance, I think numberone they ought to be looking at how they ean influence the larger community. By larger community I mean the non-Hawaiian community. Or actually that's not really accurate because there are a lot of Hawaiians in the larger community. We are also a part of the larger community. It's kind of interesting. IVe been coming upon the realization that we really, the people in Hawaii and to a larger extent Hawaiians, are sort of operating on two levels. On one level we're the Hawaiian community. On another level we are also part of this larger community. So it's not really non-Hawaiians, it's all of us in the State of Hawaii acting as people responsible for the whole State of Hawaii. I'm not talking about me or anybody in public office, I'm talking about the guy who is a Hawaiian welder and his rela-

tionships. The iarger community needs to be influenced because I think that ultimately that's where most of the Hawaiian issues that OHA would be interested in resolving would have to be handled. And what is the way to do that? I think, ultimately, it is to become responsible for the whole community. And what I mean by this is we need to recognize that while it is important to have specific Hawaiian programs . . . mueh of what happens to us is influenced by the larger community. For example, we should continue to be concerned about Hawaiian language and things like that in the schools; that is important. But we also need to stop and take a look at the whole system because that school system impacts daily on thousands of Hawaiian kids in all kinds of ways besides just teaching them their eultural heritage. And the way to look at an entire school system is to look at what that school system is doing for all the children of Hawaii.

OHA: That brings up a problem that some of our staff and trustees have had when they eome up to the legislature. Sometimes there is criticism that education is not as high a priority for OH A as it should be. Do you feel that the Department of Education in the public sector and Kamehameha Schools in the private sector should really be the primary agencies in the education area and what, if any, is OHA's mission in the schools? WAIHEE: I think there's a number of things in that statement. First of all I think that priority is kind of like a "hierarchy of needs." I mean you go through basic stuff first and obviously when you're a fledgling agency, it's easy for people on the outside to criticize and say that you shouldn't be so concerned with survival. But that's kind of silly because when you're out there trying to survive, that's what you need to do before you ean do any other good things. 1 think, rightly or wrongly, OHA's first objective just naturally will be survival and that's what it was for a while. 1 think now we're moving on beyond that because we're discovering that in order to survive we need to reach out a little bit more. So we're looking at what is important to the Hawaiian community in terms of survival and the instant thing that comes up is land. So I ean see OHA naturally flowing into that issue. Ultimately, all of us know that when we get up to the higher needs, the needs that are more long range, the needs that we have to have in order to really survive and make it and do well, you're going to have to talk about education. My sense is I don't agree with the criticism. My sense is I don't think OHA has shortchanged that. There are just things to take care of before we ean fully address them. OHA: Given our ineome, whieh is minimal at this point? WAIHEE: Yes, I think given the ineome and also given the immediate demands in the community. There are a lot of things that need to be taken care of. And that's really getting back to my first statement because there are so many things that need to be taken care ofand becausethere are so many questions like this, we really need a consensus or framework from the trustees as to why, and how. This is what we want, this is what we dream and these are the steps we're going to take, in a very cohesive form. There may be a day when this kind of cohesiveness will not be necessary because OHA would have matured as an agency and we would have matured as a State so we ean take this kind of discussion as a matter of course. But during this crucial period, I think there needs to be more consensus and direction. As far as whether Bishop Estate and the public school system should be the primary agency for education, they are. And it's our responsibility I think, as citizens and our responsibility as Hawaiians, and OHA's responsibility because of its mandate, to really look at what they're doing to make sure that they're issuing quality education for Hawaiian students, and to me, the way you do that is by ensuring quality education for everybody. Next month: Reparations, including Hawaiians in Native American Programs and the blood quantum issue.

"... I think OHA ought to be actually eomplimented for coming as far as it has . . . the agency is functioning; it is a fullgrown agency; it's recognizable within the eommunity; it's picked up staff— high quality staff; and these are just the form of things. In terms of substance, I think it has made impact ..."

"... it's easy for people on the outside to criticize and say that you shouldn't be so concerned with survival. But that's kind of silly because when you're out there trying to survive, that's what you need to do before you ean do any other good things ..."