Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 1, 1 January 2008 — Collegiality: 'Considerate, respectfuly' [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Collegiality: 'Considerate, respectfuly'

Walter M. Heen TrustEE, O'ahu

Iam constrained to reply to a letter to the "Bulletin" from my friend Whitney Anderson in whieh he states that both the OHA Chair, Haunani Apoliona, and the Administrator, Clyde Nāmu'o, should be replaced, because although they have garnered a lot of publicity, OHA hasn't done anything for its beneficiaries. He also charges that there is factionalism on the Board. First, let's remember that Whitney was an OHA candidate in the last election. He sounds like he's running again and is targeting the chair. That's the grain of salt with whieh you must take his letter. Second, any publicity about OHA has been in regards to its programs. None of the publicity that I know of has trumpeted the virtues of either the Chair or the Administrator. Whitney seems to me to be confused. The role of both the Chair and the Administrator includes the obligation of being the spokespersons for the organization. Their positions require that they be "out front" on the Akaka Bill, Waimea Falls, the revision of the Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan Fund and all of OHA's other programs. I must add that the publicity the present administration and Board are receiving is far better than the publicity accorded to previous Boards. Third, Whitney's assertion that the Chair and the Administrator are "doing little for their beneficiaries" is ludicrous! In the short year that I have served on the Board, OHA, under the leadership of the Chair and the Administrator, has expended millions of dollars on programs that have proven to be of worth to its beneficiaries. I hasten to add that the amount of money expended is not as important as the programs themselves, whieh facilitate and aid

Native Hawaiian education, Native Hawaiian health, and protection of Native Hawaiian culture and the 'āina. Whitney needs to obtain and read OHA's grants reports that outline and describe those programs. Whitney's reference to a faction further indicates that he is unfamiliar with OHA's administrative operations and its relationship with the Board. Like Whitney, I served in the state Legislature and I was also Chair of the Honolulu City Council. I know what a faction is, and OHA has no factions. The word faction is usually used in connection with a legislative body and describes a situation where, before an issue is presented to the body, a group of members rather consistently meets and discusses the issue and decides upon a unified position to take regarding the matter. In the year that I have been a Trustee I have never had a meeting with anyone from the administration or with any other Board member in whieh I was asked to vote for or against a matter to be presented to the Board for decision. And I have never asked anyone to vote for or against any proposition. Whitney may be confused, again, because, unlike previous OHA Boards, there is not the disputatious, belligerent discussions that marked their meetings. If you will remember, you could pretty mueh depend on the 6 p.m. TV news displaying the worst of those events. That does not happen now because the present trustees have conducted ourselves in a medium of "collegiality." Collegiality is described as a sharing of power, or "considerate and respectful conduct among colleagues or an atmosphere, or relationship characterized by this." Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition, p 287. In any situation where there is a difference of opinion, one side or the other is going to win out. That doesn't indicate that they are a faction. They merely see things differently from the loser, and eollegiality advises the loser not to take umbrage at the outcome. E3

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