Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 6, 1 June 2004 — Which is it? Build the trust for the new nation, or spend it all? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Which is it? Build the trust for the new nation, or spend it all?

£ A no'ai kākou. I hate to / \ admit it, but the current Ā. A.leadership of OHA has me a bit confused. I'm sure you have heard Chairperson Apoliona say on many occasions that OHA is a "temporary" organization that will someday be dissolved and its assets transferred over to the new Hawaiian Nation. So her position is clear - OHA is temporary and its money will go to fund the new Hawaiian nation. Here's where everything turns as clear as mud. In April, Trustee Stender, the chair of the money committee, informed the Trustees that he has asked for a legal opinion that will allow OHA to spend more of the Native Hawaiian Trust Fund. OHA currently has a spending limit that prevents any group of Trustees from spending the trust like drunken sailors. I'm sure that handing out a eheek to every one of the hundreds of organizations that are asking for grants would certainly make OHA very popular, but what about the long-term health of the trust? We

have carefully rebuilt the Native Hawaiian Trust Fund to over $300 million. I would hate to see it evaporate again in a shortsighted spending spree. And as for how the trust funds are spent, let's not forget that four years ago OHA conducted a survey that clearly stated the beneficiaries wanted the Trustees to focus on four priorities - (1) Return of the land; (2) Education; (3) Housing; and (4) Health. The Board has not taken any action to change our focus on these areas and Trustee Stender should keep that in mind before making any decisions on his own. I also question why the present administration can't just follow established procedures and take the matter up in an open board meeting. Unilateral decisions made by the chairman and the budget chair must stop! All that's needed to change the spending limit is six votes. If OHA's leadership is too afraid to take the matter up in puhlie at an open board meeting, maybe that should tell you something. I wrote several letters to the law

firm that is drafting the legal opinion for Stender and shared my strong concerns about breaking the board's spending limit. They responded that Trustee Stender has every right to request such an opinion. I wasn't surprised by their reply since they want to get paid for it. What is shocking is that the spending policy is not the only thing they are looking at. Trustee Stender also wants to know whether it's even appropriate to build the Trust at all! To even question whether we should grow the Native Hawaiian Trust Fund is just ludicrous. People like Thurston Twigg-Smith would like nothing better than to see the Trust disappear. And it's not just the anti-OHA people either. Even our "friends" in state government are trying to cut the money coming into OHA. Gov. Cayetano already cut OHA's airport revenues and if the current state legislature had its way, OHA would probably get a lot less than it does now. So whieh path will OHA's leadership take? Will it be Chairperson

Apoliona's "temporary" OHA that will turn over its assets to a new Hawaiian nation, or Trustee Stender's OHA, whieh spends freely and shrinks the Trust? I hope they realize that it will be difficult to do both. My prediction is that Chairperson Apoliona will flip-flop on her position and go along with Trustee Stender, unless of course, she gets enough calls telling her to do otherwise. I encourage all of you who share my concerns to eall her and ask where she's leading us. I will continue to fight, by every means necessary, any attempt to allow the shortsightedness of OHA's current leadership to endanger the Native Hawaiian Trust Fund or short-change the coming Hawaiian Nation. I mua e Hawai'i nei... For more information on important Hawaiian issues, eheek out Trustee Akana's website at www. rowe n aakana.org. ■

Rowena Akana Trustee, At-large