Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 12, 1 December 2006 — Walter Heen Q&A [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Walter Heen Q&A

/hcoming O'ahu Trustee Walter Mehe'ula Heen brings to the OHA board nearly half a century of experienee as both a legislator and a judge. A member of Hawai'i's last territorial Legislature in 1959, Heen was elected to the first state Legislature that same year and served first as a representative and then a senator. In 1968, he was elected to the Honolulu City Council, then in 1972 he heeame a judge, serving on both the state and federal benches. In 1997, Heen was one ofthe authors ofthe landmark "Broken Trust" essay exposing misdeeds by members of the Bishop Estate board. From 1998 to 2001, he served as state chairman of the Hawai'i Democratic Party. Ka Wai Ola grabbed a moment with Trustee-elect Heen on his first day of settling into his new offce: You 've had such a varied career in puhlie service. What prompted you to runfor OHA trustee now? Basically because I think I ean eontribute in a way that is beneficial to OHA. The combination of my legislative and judicial background has given me a knowledge of how to assess people's problems and get at the root causes, and then attempt to develop solutions. One of the pitfalls that I anticipate looking out for in this particular position, however, is to avoid taking actions that are more like filling potholes than establishing broad programs. As you campaigned for trustee, what were some of the main eoncerns you heard from people regarding OHA? Well, you know, it's perhaps not See HEEN ūn pagE 09

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CantinuEd fram page 03 surprising that you have at least two views of OHA in the Native Hawaiian community. One is that there is broad, general acceptance of the role of OHA. On the other hand, it's no secret that OHA is not liked by certain segments of the activist eoniniunity particularly, being viewed as simply another government agency, without the real eoneem for Native Hawaiians that an independent agency might have. Is there a way to address that? I think that the animosity expressed towards OHA can't be really expurgated, if you will, from the feelings of those activists. Essentially, I suppose, they won't be happy until they're in control. That may eome some day, but it's not around the corner.

Whal are some of the main issues you 're hoping to work on as trustee? Of course, the biggest outstanding issue is sovereignty. I've had considerable eontact with various sovereignty groups over the years and have observed the movement rather carefully, although I haven't taken an active part in its promotion. But as I've said to many of those groups: no matter what station in life a Hawaiian may have achieved, the overthrow still hurts. Whal role do you see OHA taking in the sovereignty issue? Well, I think it's moving in the right direction right now, in terms of moving ahead without necessarily being concerned with what the federal government is going to be doing, and how it's going to be reacting. If we in fact believe that we still have a sovereignty whieh was never erased, then we're entitled

to try to assert that in any way we ean. So you foresee OHA going ahead wiih its own Hawaiian governance initiative, even though some people are speculating that the Akaka Bill might now have a better ehanee of success given the poliiieal changeover in Congress? I don't see any reason why OHA should abandon its course at this particular time. It may be that down the road, when we see that the Akaka Bill is really going to move, that we may want to try to merge some aspects [of OHA's governance initiative] into the outcome of the Akaka Bill. In terms of the services that OHA provides for [Iawaiians, what do you see as top priority ? I've always contended that the real key to eeonomie advancement for Native Hawaiians is education. We really need to develop

all kinds of programs and policies to help provide the means for our people to get a better education in order to further their eeonomie opportunities. One concept that I would particularly like to develop is some method of getting Hawaiian parents more directly involved in the education of their children. And this problem is not just restricted to Native Hawaiians; every segment of the community

has the problem of parents not being involved enough in their children's education. Are there any changes you'd like to see in the direction that OHA has been taking? I'm mueh too new on the job to even try to express any thoughts along those lines. My legislative background has taught me that if you ain't got the votes, don't say anything. E3

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