Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 10, 1 October 2006 — WALTER N. HEEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WALTER N. HEEN

Iseek the office of trustee for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs because I believe that my 30 years of public

service in the administrative, legislative and judicial branches of county, state and federal governments give me the capacity to strengthen OHA's present programs, develop new ones and help all of Hawai'i's people to understand that OHA's programs benefit everyone, not just Hawaiians. OHA's education, job training and eeonomie development programs assist Hawaiians to climb the eeonomie ladder, and its housing and health programs support their basic needs. Additionally, OHA helps to buoy the spirits of Hawaiians by advocating for and perpetuating their traditional rights and customs. However, some in the general community have an

unfounded perception that they do not derive any benefit from OHA's programs. They are concerned that those programs are hurtful to their interests. In fact, OHA's programs do, indeed, benefit the entire community. OHA's programs provide businesses and the government with a better-trained, healthier, more stable workforce. Betterpaying jobs for Hawaiians help the beneficiaries provide for their families and eontribute to the community. Their self-image is improved, and they are better able to avoid aleohol, drug abuse and crime. Mueh more needs to be done, however. A rather large number of Hawaiians are still on the low end of the socio-economic ladder and have housing and health problems exceeding those of the rest of the community. OHA must put more effort into improving their situation. For example, OHA should explore establishing a program to subsidize rental payments for homeless Hawaiians. Now OHA has begun a process of "nation building" to establish a governing entity for Hawaiians that will speak with a unified voice in their dealings with the federal, state and county governments. Some people in the community seriously question, even oppose, this effort, believing that they will lose their homes, or that public lands will be lost and the state's tax revenues will be diminished. They also fear that Hawaiians will be free from arrest and eiiminal prosecution. OHA's task in this process will be to overcome those misperceptions. OHA must emphatically demonstrate how its existing programs benefit the general community and convince them that they will similarly benefit from the operations of the proposed entity. Wherever possible, OHA must explain the "architecture" of the "nation building" process and demonstrate that Hawaiians are not the only ones who will benefit from OHA's programs and the new entity. I have spent nearly 20 years as a member of the federal and state judiciary and 11 years in state and county elected office. That experience has given me valuable insight into what underlies people's fears and apprehensions, and the ability to find middle ground. I will put that experience to work for OHA and the community, as I did in co-authoring the original "Broken Trust" essay. I joined the other authors in writing that document because it was clear to me that without our voices in support of the "Kamehameha 'ohana" the Bishop Estate trustees would not support or install the improvements in the trust's operations that were so essential to the proper management of the school.