TWO separate teams are working on how to fulfill our 1978 state constitutional mandate to support the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Funding for Office
Second of two articles
of Hawaiian Affairs
Most in the public eye is the state-OHA negotiating group formed to try to settle out of court a bitterly disputed lower court ruling. It's a 1996 interpretation of a 1990 state law. The Cayetano administration calls it wrong and budget-busting. Legislators say it goes far beyond legislative intent.
The second team was formed under a 1997 law requesting a report to the 1999 Legislature. Its mandate goes well beyond retroactive dealings with the lower court decision. It contemplates seeking a "global solution" to assure long-term stability in OHA-state financial relations.
It has two senators, Carol Fukunaga and Malama Solomon, two representatives, Calvin Say and Ed Case, two OHA trustees, Haunani Apoliona and Hannah Springer, and two appointees by the governor, businessman Lionel Tokioka and Attorney General Margery Bronster.
The team to make a recommendation on the district court ruling has a Dec. 1 deadline, set by the Supreme Court. It includes:
FOR OHA -- Chairwoman "Frenchy" DeSoto; trustee Haunani Apoliona, the only overlap with the other team; trustee Herbert Campos; attorney James Duffy, who argued the Circuit Court case; Norma Wong, consultant,, and Gary Nishikawa, accountant.
FOR THE STATE -- Joseph Blanco, executive assistant to the governor; Comptroller Sam A. Callejo, and Planning Director Rick Egged.
Very fascinating is the appearance of Wong for OHA. She was the point person for Gov. John Waihee when the 1990 law was passed and for Hawaiian land matters generally.
The two teams' recommendations could mesh, but this is by no means assured.
The legislative team, in particular, will get well beyond the matter of past money due OHA and try to focus on future financial arrangements. Any court resolution of the problem will be only temporary.
The Legislature, representing all people of Hawaii, Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian, must hammer out long-term solutions in its cauldron. Reps. Say and Case have warned against excesses that could polarize the community.
More than money will be on the table.
There may be land transfers to OHA as well as cash. Symbolic transfers might include Iolani Palace, Diamond Head, the Pali and other scenic lookouts. Transfers with greater economic potential could include the Ala Wai yacht harbor, golf courses and other income-producing properties in the land trust.
Free tuition for Hawaiians at the University of Hawaii has been mentioned. The Hawaiian Homes program already is being reinforced separately.
Attention also is being paid to New Zealand, where a sister population of Polynesians, the Maoris, is working out settlements that include 50 percent of fishing rights off South Island and encouragement to Maori economic development enterprises as well as major returns of land.
New Zealand is dealing with 19th century land-taking that led to heavy bloodshed against a few tribes. It is settling on a tribe-by-tribe basis. Hawaii has had no tribes since King Kamehameha the Great brought all the islands under one rule nearly two centuries ago.
CRUCIAL to any final settlement must be a waiver of future claims. This is a tall order, but worth striving for.
Negotiators for both teams could do worse than post on their wall a statement by OHA Chairwoman Frenchy DeSoto: "For more years than I want to count, I have fought for justice out of anger. I am impatient to get results. I, too, am learning not to look so much at why we fell, but how we can stand -- and how we can stand together."
Her anger was a driving force in persuading the 1978 Constitutional Convention to propose OHA as the cornerstone of a Hawaiian rights package. Can she now be a leader in working out a settlement both Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians can live with?
Part One: OHA's share
of ceded land revenues
A.A. Smyser is the contributing editor
and former editor of the the Star-Bulletin
His column runs Tuesday and Thursday.