OHA loses chance
to select trustee

Native Hawaiian critics
demand that all current trustees
resign this month

By Rod Ohira
Star-Bulletin

A compromise move failed by one vote, leaving the Office of Hawaiian Affairs board deadlocked and Gov. Ben Cayetano the task of selecting an interim trustee to fill the unexpired term of the late Billie Beamer.

The board's inability to resolve an internal issue drew strong criticism yesterday from an umbrella organization representing numerous splinter native Hawaiian groups.

Ho'omalu ma Kualoa, which has more than 250 members, is demanding that the current board resign by April 12 and new elections be held in 90 days because "in their show of incompetency, they have passed on their sworn responsibility to a non-Hawaiian."

"This is a wake-up call telling them to be accountable to their duty, which is to name a trustee," Ho'omalu ma Kualoa member Linda Delaney said.

Cayetano had urged the board to resolve the issue, and yesterday's meeting at Mabel Smyth Auditorium was the final attempt.

The eight board members are split in their support of two interim trustee candidates -- former Intermediate Court of Appeals Associate Judge Walter Heen and Larry Kimura, a University of Hawaii-Hilo assistant professor of language and Hawaiian studies.

OHA Chairwoman A. Frenchy DeSoto, Colette Machado, Haunani Apoliona and Hannah Springer favor Heen, while Clayton Hee, Moses Keale Sr., Abraham Aiona and Rowena Akana are for Kimura. Akana and Hee yesterday introduced former OHA trustee Louis Hao as a compromise in response to recent comments by Springer to use results of the last OHA election in the selection process.

Hao was the fourth-highest vote-getter in the 1994 OHA election in which three trustees were to be elected.

Springer voted with the faction supporting Kimura in favor of Hao as a compromise, but six votes are needed for acceptance.

So after starting the day with two candidates, the board now had three.

Hee proposed to resolve the issue by having the board vote on each candidate separately with the first to get six votes declared the interim trustee.

DeSoto, however, ruled the board would be polled once on all three candidates. The final vote was four for Heen, one for Kimura, with three abstaining.

"I can understand the frustrations of the beneficiaries, but at the end of the day, I think we should be measured by whether we tried to find a way out," Hee said.

Ho'omalu ma Kualoa members Henry "Hank" Kekai and Soli Niheu left the meeting.

"We tried, but they're just wasting my time," Kekai said. "This is all about power and egos, which is why nobody gives ground. They should all resign."

Niheu added, "They should figure out a process first, so they can replace a trustee the same way every time. If you have a process, everything is validated."

Hee sees no easy road ahead for Cayetano. "I would encourage him to look outside and select someone not on the list (OHA worked with)," Hee said.

Cayetano was not available for comment yesterday.