Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 6, 1 June 2006 — Ohio ruling may help OHA in 'race-based' suit [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Ohio ruling may help OHA in 'race-based' suit

OHA's attorneys have said that a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in an Ohio case over taxpayers' rights could spell the end of a long-running lawsuit by retired polieeman Earl Arakaki and others, whieh seeks to have OHA and other Hawaiian agencies declared unconstitutional. According to news reports, the Supreme Court denied efforts by a group of taxpayers in Toledo, Ohio to challenge some $300 million in tax breaks that were being offered for a new leep plant. While that case may seem completely unrelated to the Amkaki suit, whieh has sought to abolish OHA and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands as being unconstitutionally "race-based," both lawsuits hinge strongly on taxpayers' ability to sue their home state over its use of their tax money. In the Ohio case, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the high court's unanimous ruling that the taxpayers' elaim of injury was "mere conjecture," and that they did not have the right to sue the state over its taxation or spending decisions. In the Hawai'i case, a federal appeals court

had recently affirmed dismissal of the entire suit, with the exception of a portion in whieh the plaintiffs challenged the use of state tax funds for a portion of OHA's budget. The appeals court had sent that portion of the suit back for rehearing in loeal federal court, but members of OHA's legal team said the ruling in the Ohio case spelled a virtually assured win in those proceedings. "It's dead," OHA board attorney and former Hawai'i Supreme Court Justice Robert Klein told the Honolulu Advertiser of the Amkaki case following the high court's ruling. "There's absolutely nothing for the (Hawai'i) judge to consider anymore." State attorney Mark Bennett said he agreed with Klein, and he expected the Supreme Court to nullify the appeals court's ruling on the state taxpayer issue in the Amkaki case. However, the plaintiff's attorney in that case, H. William Burgess, told the Advertiser he is "confident" the Toledo ruling would not have any effect on his client's suit. H

'AHA HO'OKOLOKOLO • IN ĪHE CDURTS

Rona Rodenhurst, former OHA employee and the new direotor of the Waimea Valley Audubon Center, partioipates in a 2004 rally in support of Hawaiian programs ohallenged by the Arakaki lawsuit. Photo: KWO Arohive