OHA’s Keale retiring;
By Pat Omandam
candidates sought to fill
Kauai district seat
Star-BulletinThe Office of Hawaiian Affairs will begin accepting applications today for people who want to serve as an interim trustee to replace Moses K. Keale, who is retiring Oct. 31.
The nine-member OHA board is seeking Hawaiian candidates who live on Kauai, the district Keale represents. A news conference is planned for today at OHA headquarters to discuss his retirement.
Keale, 60, who uses a wheelchair because of poor health, officially announced Wednesday that he was stepping down. Keale was one of the first trustees at the semiautonomous agency when it was created in 1980. His current term expires at the end of next year.
In a letter to OHA Chairwoman Rowena Akana, Keale said he tried to serve all beneficiaries faithfully and humbly.
"In all humility," he wrote, "let me offer these last words of wisdom: In unity there is strength; in harmony there is peace; and in services there is salvation."
"Above all, with justice we can truly achieve a unity of spirit between God, man and the 'aina.' "
A majority of the OHA board this summer approved using $35,000 in trust funds to pay for a retirement package for Keale, drawing the wrath of the vocal board minority and others. The retirement plan -- effective only for the 1999-2000 fiscal year -- provides an amount based on the number of four-year terms served, up to a maximum of $24,000 a year to trustees who reach age 60.
Keale has been an OHA trustee since 1980, and served as chairman between 1990 and 1991 and between 1987 and 1988.
He has served as assistant pastor of Ke Akua Mana Church and as a kahu for the Statewide Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations.
Currently, he is chairman of the OHA Policy and Planning Committee.
His vacancy will be advertised on Kauai this weekend. Applications are available at OHA's Kauai and Oahu offices, as well as on its Web site: http://www.oha.org
Applicants must reside on Kauai, be at least 18 years old, a registered voter, and be of Hawaiian ancestry.
The remaining eight trustees on the OHA board have 60 days from the time Keale retires Oct. 31 to interview and select an interim trustee from among the candidates. A simple board majority will confirm the candidate. If not, Gov. Ben Cayetano will appoint one.
Trustees earn $32,000 a year. In 1998, the often-fractious board was able to agree on Herbert Campos as an interim Maui trustee for Abe Aiona, who retired.
But earlier that year, trustees could not agree on a successor to the seat held by the late Billie Beamer, who died on Jan. 24, 1998. As a result, the Cayetano named Gladys Brandt as interim trustee.
January '97 OHA Ceded Lands Ruling Rice vs. Cayetano
