Ipredicted a few weeks ago to some friends that if the heat continued to rise against Bishop Estate, the five trustees would begin to get "lawyered up" and attack each other. Divided they stand,
together they fallIt's not that the estate has ever been light on lawyers. I doubt if there are more than three attorneys in town who haven't done some kind of work for the trustees at one time or another. Then there are the lawyers they keep on staff or on retainer, like state Rep. Terrance Tom. And let's not forget their latest legal purchase, the hiring of top gun William McCorriston to do who knows what, aside from trying to bully and intimidate the media.
The point is, the estate is lousy with lawyers. But that's not enough. Because as the chips begin falling where they may, they just may land on the heads of individual trustees. In the old days, when life was hunky dory at Kawaiahao Plaza, the estate's nerve center, the trustees liked to say that they pulled down the big bucks because they were all individually legally liable for their actions.
Look, one trustee told me once, our lawyers say that we can be sued individually for our actions and therefore we are entitled to make a boatload of money because we would have to defend ourselves if we are sued. Well, those weren't his exact words, but you get the drift.
Of course, at the time, none of them ever imagined they would be sued. When anything threatened the peace and harmony of the estate, the trustees marched students and alumni in lock step down to the legislature and the foe was vanquished.
Now, their traditional support hoard has turned into a rabble banging at the castle gates. All the traditional ways of pulling the troops together such as the nostalgic us-against-them pleas and the boiling oil of intimidation hasn't worked.
And that's why I predict the trustees will arm themselves with lawyers and start going at each other.
Evidence? Well, Oswald Stender separated himself from the others early on. And now, Gerard Jervis has run a sniveling piece in the newspaper announcing that he is cutting himself out of the herd.
In his op-ed piece that ran last Sunday, Jervis called himself the "junior member" of the board at least three times. Which is to say he was only playing piano in the lobby and didn't know what was going on upstairs.
Here's some of his other points:
"What hasn't worked and what must stop are any actions by trustees that create the perception of conflict or impropriety," he wrote. Translation: "You're on your own Henry Peters and Dickie Wong. Whatever investments you guys were involved in, I had nothing to do with. I don't know anything about Lokelani Lindsey using estate resources for personal projects. Oz, you're my buddy."
Jervis goes on to say "We should ... establish a fair, but lower level of trustee compensation." Translation: "Please let me stay. I'm not unreasonable. I'll work for peanuts."
"We need a two-way street of getting advise and giving ideas," he said. Translation: "Yes, it used to be 'our way or the highway.' But keep me and I'll let you in the castle. Honest."
This is going to get ugly, folks. There is no way the trustees are going to go down as a group.
These guys and Lindsey waited too long for this political plum. They aren't going to let it simply be plucked from them based on the actions of other others. If they can sacrifice one or two of their fellow trustees so they can remain on the board, they will do it. Trust me.