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Akaka says U.S.
Interior Dept. may get
Native Hawaiian Office
The Clinton administration is
No motion yet to keep OHA board
working to establish the office
Hawaiians meeting this weekend By Pat Omandam
Star-BulletinThe Clinton administration is working to establish a Native Hawaiian Office in the U.S. Department of Interior, said U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Akaka.
Such an office is important because it would create a permanent federal office versed on Hawaiian issues that would continue to exist despite any changes in the administration, a key consideration this presidential election year.
The Clinton administration has been very receptive to Hawaiian issues over the past eight years, Akaka said, but a new administration might be less so.
"President Clinton has been very helpful, very sympathetic to our needs and I feel it's urgent we try to move as far as we can while he's in office," Akaka said.
"We have no idea who is going to be the next president or how much relationship and how good a relationship would be with that president, and how much we can do for the Hawaiians," he said.
Akaka attended a Census 2000 forum at the East-West Center yesterday. During a break, he said top aides to President Clinton told him Friday of plans to create the Hawaiian affairs office. The move stems from the federal reconciliation efforts under way with native Hawaiians as called for in the 1993 U.S. apology resolution.
The congressional resolution acknowledged and apologized for the role of Americans in the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy.
Officials from the U.S. Interior and Justice departments are preparing a draft report expected in the near future on how to proceed with reconciliation following a series of meetings with the Hawaiian community in the islands last December.
Akaka said this served as the genesis for creation of the Hawaiian Affairs Task Force made up of Hawaii's congressional delegation.
Akaka, who leads the task force, said the delegation is concerned about the confusion in the community on what's happening at the federal level following last month's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the state's OHA elections are unconstitutional.
"We want to be sure that our people realize we have the reconciliation process on track and still continuing in spite of the Rice vs. Cayetano ruling ... And that process is one that will be leading us into setting up some programs, as well as an institution in which the Hawaiians can work with the federal government and to have federal recognition as well," he said.
Akaka said there needs to be a law establishing a trust relationship between the United States and native Hawaiians for federal recognition, much like that enjoyed by Native Americans, before some degree of autonomy can be tackled.
The goal of the task force is to reach a consensus to draft such a bill and move forward with it as much as possible.
Akaka said the timing is perfect because there is now a better vision of where Hawaiians want to go with self-determination, as well as a sense that people are coming together more than they ever had before.
"The thing is, we have the greatest country in the world today, and we're part of it," Akaka said. "Our country still wants to help us so we would be foolish to step away from that," the senator added.
"We need to take that opportunity to continue this relationship and to improve and to build on it," he said.
OHA Special
Rice vs. Cayetano arguments
Rice vs. Cayetano decision
No motion filed
By Pat Omandam
to keep OHA’s
board in place
Star-Bulletin
The state and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs have not yet filed a joint motion in the Hawaii Supreme Court that would keep the OHA board in place until the Hawaii justices say otherwise or until the November OHA elections, said state Deputy Attorney General Girard Lau.
Lau said he is awaiting a draft motion from OHA attorneys, which the state must agree on before the motion can be filed.
"I'm just waiting for them to get back to us on our changes," Lau said. Gov. Ben Cayetano and OHA Chairman Clayton Hee announced the joint legal action March 2, following growing concern by Hawaiians that Cayetano would immediately replace most of the current OHA trustees after the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Rice v. Cayetano that invalidated the Hawaiians-only election of OHA trustees.
The U.S. Supreme Court has until March 19 -- or 25 days after it issued its Feb. 23 opinion -- to file an official judgment on the case. Lau believes the matter will probably be sent back to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The OHA board meets at 2 p.m. tomorrow to discuss the Rice ruling, as well as a draft bill that recreates OHA as a private entity. That entity would carry on OHA's mission and hold its trust until there is a federally recognized Hawaiian nation.
OHA Special
Rice vs. Cayetano arguments
Rice vs. Cayetano decision
Native Hawaiian
Star-Bulletin
delegates will meetDelegates to the Native Hawaiian Convention will meet this weekend to discuss two models of sovereignty under consideration: independence and nation-within-a-nation. The convention is drafting constitutional frameworks for each model and is seeking public input. The goal is to finalize plans by July before holding a vote in September on a proposed model of sovereignty.
The meetings will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Kalama cafeteria at Kamehameha Schools. They are open to the public.
The convention is supported by Ha Hawaii, the nonprofit group that conducted the election of delegates and is following in the footsteps of the former Hawaiian Sovereignty Elections Council.
OHA Special
Rice vs. Cayetano arguments
Rice vs. Cayetano decision
