Some key Hawaiians:
Don’t probe estate

Let Hawaiian community,
not the attorney general, handle it,
the leaders say

By Jim Witty
Star-Bulletn

Some key Hawaiian leaders say there would be no need for an investigation of Bishop Estate by the state attorney general's office if critics would back off and let the Hawaiian community handle it.

"Everybody calm down," said Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee A. "Frenchy" DeSoto. "It's the sharks' feeding frenzy. It's easy to accuse people. Let the judge (court-appointed fact finder Patrick Yim) finish his study and let's talk . . . It's our responsibility to go to the people involved and put the allegations to them. We're supposed to go talk to each other and not air our dirty laundry in public view."

Last week, Gov. Ben Cayetano directed Attorney General Margery Bronster to investigate allegations that trustees of the $10 billion charitable trust have breached their fiduciary duties, a charge they deny. The executive decision was prompted by a highly critical opinion piece in the Star-Bulletin written by University of Hawaii law professor Randall Roth, U.S. District Judge Samuel King, Monsignor Charles Kekumano, retired appeals Judge Walter Heen and Gladys Brandt, retired Kamehameha Schools principal.

Cayetano gave Bronster a week to make a preliminary inquiry into Bishop Estate to see if a broader investigation is warranted. Court-appointed fact-finder Patrick Yim is also concluding a probe of charges the trustees are micromanaging the schools.

"It's really sad that something like this is happening and sad that one of the last bastions of Hawaiian entity is being dragged through the papers every day," said Maui activist Charles Maxwell. "In every corporate situation there's so much dissension. But they iron it out in the boardroom," he said.

Maxwell acknowledged that the trustees' $843,000-a-year salaries are "exorbitant" but cautioned against rushing to judgment.

"It's not that the trustees can do no wrong," he said. "But there's a legal process. They're being tried and hung before any legal entity is in place."

Said Desoto: "I'm old enough to remember when the trustees didn't make a damned nickel. Nobody has the right to go after the will. How dare they."

DeSoto blamed the growing furor on enemies within the community.

"Those in the community who have been waiting to jump on the bones of Bishop Estate should just back off," she said. "We need to use our culture to approach the issue rather than make the newspapers all rich."

OHA trustee Colette Machado said she would prefer singling out individual Bishop Estate trustees for censure if they breached their responsibilities rather than shaking the trust to its foundation.

"I don't appreciate this type of investigation and the way its been handled publicly," she said. "(But) if they've breached their fiduciary trust, there must be a means of removal."

Machado said that she believes the appointment of trustees by Supreme Court justices has politicized the post.

But Machado added that she fears the crisis will hurt, not help, Hawaiians.

"I'm quite concerned that the perception is that Hawaiians have gotten away with far too much and that's not true," she said. "This is not good press for Hawaiians in general."

OHA chairman Clayton Hee wouldn't comment yesterday.

Meanwhile Roth said he and the other authors of "Broken Trust" plan to meet with representatives of the attorney general this afternoon to discuss their recommendations and how they could be instituted.

They are pushing for replacement of all of the Bishop Estate trustees with the exception of Oswald Stender with appointment of interim trustees to be made by the probate court, Roth said.

"The most important point is that appointments not be made by the Supreme Court justices," he said.

"The overriding consideration has to be what is likely to be in the best interest of the beneficiary."