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The state and OHA agree that
trustees can remain while awaiting
advice from the state's high courtHawaiians urge unity at Senate hearing
By Pat Omandam
Star-BulletinOffice of Hawaiian Affairs trustee Mililani Trask says she and others will continue to plan for civil disobedience, despite a deal struck by the state and OHA that allows trustees to remain on the job for now.
But Gov. Ben Cayetano says the protests are inappropriate. Moreover, he says he does not think Trask will follow through.
"I never thought Mililani Trask would carry out her threats in the first place," Cayetano said yesterday.
"I know her. I like her. I think she is a dedicated advocate of her particular policies. But as it's played out, I think it becomes clear to her that course of action is not appropriate," he said.
Trask said yesterday she is happy Cayetano backed off his original plan to replace current trustees after the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated the Hawaiians-only voting practice that elected them.
However, she is going ahead with plans to meet Sunday at 9 a.m. at the Center for Hawaiian Studies to plan civil disobedience.
"I think the immediate pressure is off," Trask said yesterday.
"The remaining question now is, What about enforcing the law (creating OHA's ceded-land revenue payments) and bringing into our office the revenues that we're entitled to under that law? That is still very much at issue," she said.
Trask said the state still has to address the issue of past-due and unpaid revenue owed to OHA for its use of ceded lands at state airports, harbors, the University of Hawaii and elsewhere.
As a result, those areas are the ones that are targeted for peaceful, nonviolent protests, she said.
In the compromise between the governor and OHA, both sides will ask the Hawaii Supreme Court for clarification on when the terms of the current elected trustees expire and whether the governor has the authority to replace them or fill any board vacancies.
The nine-member OHA board yesterday voted 8-0, with trustee Donald Cataluna out sick, to support the joint petition to the state Supreme Court. Cayetano said the petition was filed in state court rather than federal court because the issue has to do with state elections.
Hee said the Hawaii justices are likely to expedite the petition, given the urgency of the case. The state Supreme Court is already considering how to resolve the dispute between OHA and the state over ceded-land revenue, after negotiations broke off last year.
Hee thanked the Hawaiian community, state lawmakers, Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono and others for their support, and said the groundswell of encouragement the board has received is "unlike any" that he has seen during his 10 years as trustee.
Even trustee A. Frenchy DeSoto, who has had her share of board battles with Hee, praised him for securing a deal with the governor.
"At the risk of being called a suck-up, I want to congratulate you for the task that you've done," DeSoto said.
"I didn't think ever that you could pull it out, but I had trust in you. And you delivered the bacon in whatever form it turns out to be."
OHA's attorneys told the board in a closed meeting yesterday that U.S. District Judge David Ezra will hear OHA's motion to intervene on any action regarding the Rice case on April 24. The hearing date is important because Ezra granted it without receiving a judgment yet from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Hee said.
"We believe that to be a good signal that Judge Ezra, on his own volition and without any other reason to the contrary, decided to set a date," Hee said.
Meanwhile, Cayetano said the state Legislature must address whether non-Hawaiians can run in OHA elections. Although the U.S. Supreme Court opinion did not address that matter, there are people who want to challenge the constitutionality of OHA and will push for non-Hawaiian trustees, he said.
Cayetano believes OHA is constitutional, and said the state will continue to defend its existence.
"There's a difference between the right to vote, which is established in the U.S. Constitution, and the right to run for public office, which has all kinds of restrictions on it," the governor said.
"The question of race as one of the restrictions I'm not sure has ever been reached in a situation like this. Certainly, if OHA was a sovereign nation or a tribe, as the Indians are, then I think that it would stand a better chance of a constitutional challenge," Cayetano said.
State Sen. Colleen Hanabusa said she plans to introduce legislation to fix this loophole in the state Constitution. Other bills relating to OHA are expected to remain alive this session until the state and OHA receive court guidance on how to proceed.
Hawaiians
By Leila Fujimori
urge unity in wake of
Supreme Court ruling
Star-BulletinWith song and words, Hawaiians at a Senate hearing in Waimanalo last night urged unity in the wake of the Rice vs. Cayetano ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Kupuna Lilia W. Hale led the packed crowd at a Waimanalo school cafeteria in singing "Mele Ai Pohaku" -- "The Stone-Eating Song."
"My manao (thought) has nothing to do with politics, but that we unite as one," Hale said. She urged the group to turn to God and prayer instead of a lot of angry talk.
About 300 Hawaiians gathered last night at the Blanche Pope Elementary School for the seventh and final public hearing held in communities throughout the state by the Senate Committee on Water, Land and Hawaiian Affairs. The meetings were called after the Supreme Court invalidated the Hawaiians-only election of Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustees
The anger that characterized previous meetings had dissipated somewhat after Gov. Ben Cayetano earlier in the day agreed to back off his plan to replace current trustees and, instead, to send the issue to the Hawaii Supreme Court for an opinion.
OHA Chairman Clayton Hee told the crowd that his friend the governor, "has finally agreed to join OHA to clarify the status of trustees." But he stressed that "Hawaiians have to get out from under the state umbrella" because programs for native Hawaiians are in jeopardy.
Waimanalo resident Peter Kama said he half agrees with Cayetano regarding the trustees: "He (Cayetano) said they were dysfunctional. They were dysfunctional. The nice thing about the Rice vs. Cayetano case, now they're functional. They're in unison."
Kama said OHA has failed to advocate for Hawaiians in getting Hawaiian Home Lands. But he maintained his support for OHA.
Bitterness, however, did surface at the meeting. Kanoekalani Cheek, who described herself as a direct descendant of Kamehameha I, said she was "demeaned, harassed and ridiculed" when applying for Hawaiian home lands.
She criticized OHA for not doing much, saying OHA only gave out half of the $1.8 million in grant money it received last year. Cheek called upon legislators to make a law to separate OHA from state government. "Let the Hawaiians operate as a separate entity, and pay us the money you owe," she said.
"We have enough money now to move forward and operate independently ... to hold our own elections," Cheek said. "Not only do we have enough money to start our own Hawaiian nation, we have the power of being suppressed for over 100 years, the mana that flows through each Hawaiian here disgusted with the system." She received thunderous applause.
Earl Kawaa supported Mililani Trask's cry for civil disobedience, as well as Hee's negotiations. He also favored plans to transfer OHA's assets to a native Hawaiian bank, and making a difference through a united Hawaiian vote in state elections.
At the end of the testimony in Waimanalo last night, Sen. Colleen Hanabusa said: "This ends our journey," and added, "We will take what you said to heart."
U.S. Public Law 103-150
