Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 17, Number 11, 1 November 2000 — More OHA trustee candidates [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

More OHA trustee candidates

The following trustee candidates for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs were not run in the October issue of Ka Wai Ola o OHA.

Roger Grantham Maui seat, 2-year term Why do you want to be an OHA trustee? I have for the entire 23 plus years that I have lived on Maui been active in my eommunity. I first became seriously concerned about OHA and its impact on my eommunity when I saw scores of families, some of them native Hawaiian lose their only opportunity to own a home in West Maui due to a senseless and vindictive lawsuit brought by OHA against Villages of Leiali'i and the State of Hawai'i. This and many other reckless and destructive expenditures of the funds that were earmarked for OHA to make the day to day lives of its trust recipients gives me cause to think that new, clear thinking, non bias energy is need at OHA. Our state is going though a process where one side is making wild unattainable demands, both at the federal level and locally. The ceded lands issue and many of the political issues at the forefront cannot and should not be the main focus of OHA. The 375 million dollars OHA has in mainland investments should be invested in Hawai'i by buying endangered pristine lands and cultural sites out right. In addition investing in our puhlie schools where a huge proportion of Native Hawaiians attend school would have bigger dividends than any portfolio. This way OHA will be a part of the community, not a thorn in its side! Consensus ean be reached but by consensus not capitulation and threat. Qualities? After 23 years of finding homes for the people of Maui in the most difficult real estate market in the United States. I think I bring good listening and negotiating expertise to this task. I do promise that all my energy will go to bring dignity, equality and fiscal responsibility to this office. I will work in concert with my fellow trustees

whom ever they may be, for the betterment of all. I am and will remain accessible to all. What do you consider the most important issue confronting OHA and or the Hawaiian people? Of course it is the land issues as related to sovereignty. If the Akaka Bill is passed in the Congress and made law, OHA and the State of Hawai'i will be in legal limho and chaos for the next 10 years as the courts decide, yet again, if the Constitution of the U.S. has be sublegated. If the Akaka Bill passes, I don't think OHA will have a future, as then the recipients of OHA's obligations will heeome wards of the U.S. government? If it is not passed OHA's job will be completely reshaped and it will heeome more important than ever to de politicize OHA and get to the job of preservation. lfyou could only accomplish one goal as an OHA trustee, what would it be? A fair settlement of the ceded lands issue that would work with in the framework of the U.S. Constitution and find acceptance with the majority of all the people in Hawai'i. After all, if it does not accomplish this goal it won't stand the test of time or litigations. In closing, I would, as a NON- NATIVE HAWAIIAN express to your readers that I am a husband, father of two young girls, born here in Hawai'i. We here in Hawai'i have been a heaeon to the entire world of how a multi-cultural society ean exist and prosper, lets not lose sight of this for some "pie in the sky" promises of more government and lose the most sought after and prized citizenship in the world. Please vote on Nov. 7th. Aloha and mahalo, Roger Grantham, OHA candidate, Maui seat.

Miehael Keali'i Ka'uhane At-large seat, 2-year term Mike Ka'uhane is a candidate for trustee - Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Mrs. Linda Ayako (Hara) Ka'uhane was bom and raised in Laupāhoehoe, Hawai'i, and she is an elementary school teacher with the Department of Education. Mike attended Mauna'olu College in Maui and BYU - Hawai'i, Lā'ie Campus and graduated from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, after six years of night school at UH, Mike has a bachelor's degree in business. Linda has a master's degree in education from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. They have two sons who attended Kamehameha Schools, Boyd Keali'i '94 and Reyn Keola '99. Mike is a Vietnam veteran and served at Da Nang Air Base in the Republic of Vietnam. He was honorably discharged. Mike is a successful independent business owner and has been in business for three years. I view the image that the current trustees project to the general puhlie is one of turmoil and discontent, Hawaiians say "pihkia." This image has allowed mueh criticism and actions by those outside the Hawaiian community to take actions that are not and will not benefit the Hawaiian people. In all areas of our society from the Office of the President of the United States to the Offtce of the Governor - State of Hawai'i to the head football eoaeh at UH when things aren't progressing it is time for a change and we are now at that point in time. I certainly don't feel that I have all the answers to all of our problems but I also have no agenda, no axe to grind, don't belong to any movements or owe anyone any favors. Lor OHA to progress hard decisions have to be made in a timely fashion. Those decisions must be based on logical

and / or fmancial reasons not personal agendas or emohonal feelings. These are hard times for Hawaiians and the decisions we make must be good decisions that will leave a legacy of progress. The position of trustee in not about improvement in my personal wealth or personal gain but it is a position of TRUST. A trustee must have LONG VISION not for today or tomorrow but for our children and their children the "keiki o ka 'āina." As an organization we should embrace the Credit Union philosophy of "people helping people." Lor me to select the most important issue facing Hawaiians today would be impossible. There are too many issues of education, health and the welfare that are all equally important. Issues must be prioritized and addressed by the trustees. The evaluation process for these decisions must be based on input from view points that you like and view points that you don't like. When you give time for this process it is good for the spirit and the soul. The maximizing of benefits for the Hawaiian people not just for special interest groups is my major priority. Some people may view these goals as simplistic or unrealistic, I don't. In this very important matter I ask you for your vote. Mahalo ! "Aloha with the emphasis on OHA" DustinToler At-large seat, 2-year term Age 49. 1/8 Pawnee, 1/16 Cherokee. Military service: 1969-'92, U.S. Army, Command Sergeant Major (USAR) retired. Armed conflicts included Vietnam, Grenada, Panama and Operation Desert Storm. Awards include two Silver Stars, seven Bronze Stars and three Purple Hearts. Attended Park University, San Lrancisco State University, Honolulu Community See CANDIDATES on page 5

CANDIDATES From pagc 4.

College, and graduated from two poliee academies. Graduated from Rhema Bible Training Center, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Civilian work includes associate editor of a 20,000 circulation weekly newspaper and various law enforcement positions. Owned and operated private businesses, and has served seven years as a Christian minister. Public service includes three years on a loeal school board in California. Four years as a member of the Fresno County Delinquency Prevention Comnhssion and three years on the California Delinquency Prevention Commission. In Nov. 1999, helped establish the Constitution Party of Hawai'i. The most important issue eonfronting OHA today is sovereignty. The Constitution of the United States establishes that there is only one sovereign and there'are digressive Ievels of sovereignty. The first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence refers to "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God." The second paragraph calls this "God of nature" our creator and explains that God endowed mankind with "certain unalienable rights" (God's "Laws of Nature"). Our nation's founders clearly established in the constitution that God is the only sovereign existing. They further established that God, in turn, endows a portion of the sovereignty to mankind, who has a responsibility to safeguard that gift while fulfilling their responsibilities to God, their families, their communities, in that order. Our founders conveyed a small portion of their sovereign authority upon the individual states. The colonist relinquished only that small amount of authority necessary to establish safety and to promote commerce. When tyranny began to reign against the colonies, they banded together as states and bestowed a small portion of their

state sovereignty upon the federal government. They set the standard that current legislators seek to ignore. The federal is subject to the many states. The states are subject to the people. The people are subject to God. When this fails to be the rule, bondage always follows. Adding an additional "sovereign nation" to this mixture creates chaos for those govemed by that nation. Look at the various Ameiiean Indian Nations. They now live in poverty and servitude worse that every third world nation existing today. They have the worst schools, the lowest paying jobs, the highest unemployment, and the highest rate of alcoholism and crime in the United States. Why is this? As a people, they relinquished their position of sovereignty under God and placed themselves in the position of subjects to a "sovereign nation." Now, they must go to their chief who in turn must go begging to an appointed bureaucrat who works for another bureaucrat appointed to mn the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Director of Indian Affairs answers to the bureaucrat serving as Secretary of the Interior who answers to the President who doesn't seem to answer to anyone. The Hawaiian people enjoy the status of first class citizens with shared authority over the conduct of the most powerful nation in the world. Through • open discussion and the forceful exercise of our unalienable rights, all Americans and especially Hawaiian ean regain the freedoms, properties and dignity endowed by God and guaranteed in our constitution. As it is written, current legislation will reduce people of Hawaiian bloodline to the position of second-class citizens in a third world nation with virtually no constitutional rights to redress. Sovereignty without dignity is not acceptable. ■