OHA’s delay
in naming trustee
angers Hawaiians

OHA must decide on a trustee
for Kauai by Dec. 31, or the decision
will go to Gov. Cayetano

By Anthony Sommer
Star-Bulletin

LIHUE -- Angering native Hawaiians on Kauai for the second time in as many weeks, Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustees were unable to agree yesterday on a replacement for retired Kauai trustee Moses Keale.

The OHA trustees have until Dec. 31 to name a replacement for Keale, who stepped down Oct. 31, or the choice will go to Gov. Ben Cayetano. Board Chairwoman Rowena Akana said she won't schedule another vote unless it is clear there are at least six votes for a candidate, which appears unlikely.

State law requires a two-thirds majority to name a replacement to fill a vacancy, which means six votes. Yesterday, with trustee Frenchy DeSoto absent, five board members backed veteran activist Randy Wichman while two held firm for attorney Warren Perry.

Perry ignored a suggestion from trustee Mililani Trask that he withdraw so Kauai could be represented.

"It's a disgrace," retired Kauai attorney Arthur Trask, uncle of Mililani Trask, told the board. "The board should be held hostage until it can make a decision."

Akana said she doubts the two members who voted for Perry -- Haunani Apoliona and Colette Machado -- would shift their support to Wichman. "Perry was their running mate in the last election," Akana said.

She said she couldn't speak for DeSoto, who was ill, but DeSoto has been more closely aligned with the minority.

Apoliona said she will continue to support Perry because the board needs his legal experience. Machado said she would not change her vote.

More than 100 native Hawaiians who attended the meeting offered to vote on the two finalists to show the board which candidate they prefer but Akana said the board could not be legally bound by their decision.

On Nov. 15, the trustees met on Kauai with only five members -- enough for a quorum but one short of the six needed to pick a new trustee -- and conducted interviews of 14 of the 17 candidates. They voted to cut the field to seven finalists but could not take a final vote.

Akana said that if the Dec. 31 deadline passes without a vote, she will recommend Wichman to the governor. But she noted in previous instances in which the governor appointed interim trustees he picked people who had not even been considered by the board.

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Office of Hawaiian Affairs