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Some OHA The embattled Office of Hawaiian Affairs board will meet again at 5 p.m. tomorrow in hopes of finalizing plans on exactly how to respond to a state petition filed in Circuit Court that challenges their authority of trustees and seeks their removal from office.
trustees wavering
on election plan
The board continues meeting
to try and hammer out a
final arrangements
Trask critical of Cayetano on OHA
By Pat Omandam
Star-BulletinSo far, plans for the entire resignation of the board are turning out to be hard to swallow for a few trustees.
"It isn't a done deal yet," said trustee Rowena Akana, who added the board is not unanimous on any decision.
"Not by a long shot."
OHA Chairman Clayton Hee said today the board has not yet filed a response to the quo warranto petition because it is still discussing the matter with its attorney, retired Associate Justice Robert Klein.
The board met for several hours this morning and will meet again tomorrow afternoon, when Hee hopes trustees will finally agree on a plan.
Hee said an agreement reached earlier in the week to have all nine trustees stand for election this year remains on the table, although the idea has frustrated some board members.
Still, he is hopeful when the time comes for the trustees to "fish or cut bait," they will do what is best for OHA and its beneficiaries.
Under that possible scenario, eight of the nine trustees would resign sometime Friday - exactly 60 days before the general election - thereby giving all Hawaii voters a unique opportunity to vote for all nine board members at one time. Trustee Donald Cataluna was appointed to the board by Gov. Ben Cayetano and his term expires this year.
In doing so, the action would fix an opinion by the Hawaii Supreme Court that declared the board serves on a de facto status because of the Rice decision, which struck down the Hawaiians-only voting restriction.
"We believe that the action taken by the board is the appropriate remedy to nullify the (quo warranto) petition," Hee said this week.
Trask critical Gov. Ben Cayetano's continued push to remove all but one of the trustees at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs is an attempt to stack the deck to reach a favorable settlement between the state and OHA over ceded lands, alleges trustee Mililani Trask.
of Cayetano
on OHA
She says he wants to oust
trustees to get a favorable
ceded lands settlementReaction to trustees seeking seats
By Pat Omandam
Star-BulletinTrask said the news from OHA Chairman Clayton Hee that five trustees have agreed to run for their seats this year even though their terms expire in 2002 is a result of a petition filed by the state late yesterday that challenges the authority of the trustees to remain in office.
If the trustees decided not to run this election year and instead challenged the petition and lost, Cayetano would be able to appoint trustees who could support the state's position on ceded lands. Negotiations over past-due revenue generated from these former crown lands broke off last year, leaving the issue before the Hawaii Supreme Court.
"There's no doubt in my mind that he wants a settlement before the Akaka bill is passed," said Trask, who doesn't agree with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Rice vs. Cayetano that set off this chain of events. Cayetano's spokeswoman, Kim Murakawa, said last night the governor declined comment on OHA's action until he can confer with state attorneys today.
The state attorney general's office filed a quo warranto petition late yesterday in Circuit Court asking the court declare the seats of eight of nine trustees unconstitutional. The petition asserts that the trustees -- all except trustee Donald Cataluna, whom Cayetano appointed -- do not lawfully hold their offices, are not qualified to fill the office of trustee and are forbidden from performing the duties of OHA trustee any longer.
The petition asks that the trustees be removed and the governor immediately appoint qualified replacements to fill the vacancies that result from their removal. The state's action comes a week after the Hawaii Supreme Court responded to a joint motion filed by the state and OHA in March that sought clarification of the status of trustees. The Hawaii court said the Feb. 23 Rice decision -- which lifted the Hawaiians-only restriction for OHA voters -- did not create immediate vacancies, but it did change the status to that of de facto trustees.
The Hawaii justices said the state could challenge the authority of the trustees to remain in office by filing a quo warranto petition in Circuit Court, which state attorneys did.
Hee said yesterday that the board doesn't dispute the petition but wants the Circuit Court to rule on whether all the trustees can remain in office until a day before the Nov. 7 elections. Despite the de facto status, Hee said the Hawaii Supreme Court did say the decisions of trustees are enforceable and valid.
"It may not have enjoyed the findings but nonetheless the board does not disagree, that is, the status of the trustees from de jure to de facto," Hee said. "The board also agrees that the remedy to the quo warranto petition in Circuit Court and the proper relief to that petition is in the next election, which is Nov. 7, 2000," he said.
Hee said the board intends to file a temporary restraining order or other legal action in court today to guide and instruct OHA on the status of the agency if all the trustees run for election this year. The terms of four trustees expire this year; the other five in 2002.
The resignation of the five trustees any time after Friday would trigger a Hawaii law that requires the unexpired term of any vacancies in OHA that fall within 60 days before an election be filled in that next election. If it occurs after the 60th day, then the board or the governor will fill the vacancy.
"We view this as a practical dilemma. It is a practical problem. We view this as a purpose whose intent is to continue to conduct business on behalf of the beneficiaries that OHA serves," Hee said.
Business at the OHA board table include a 2-year-old lawsuit over the sale of ceded lands, the Akaka bill and preparation of the OHA biennium budget that must be ready for the 2001 state Legislature in December.
"We agree that that is the honorable action to take in light of the Supreme Court decision. It is the proper action to take. And frankly, it is the right thing to do," Hee said.
Trust funds will not be used to respond to the quo warranto petition, Hee said.
Meanwhile, the five trustees who now find themselves facing a last-minute election campaign for November said they are not ready to run but are willing to do so. Trustee Louis Hao said he wasn't prepared for this action and would have to gather a campaign committee to get this election bid going.
Trustee A. Frenchy DeSoto, who also speculates that the governor wants to replace the trustees to get a global settlement on ceded lands, said she has no money for another campaign. Nevertheless, she said, the board's action is the best way to take care of the trust.
The decision by the five Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustees to resign and run again won support but not necessarily votes. Trustees’ plan to
resign is supportedBy Mary Adamski
Star-Bulletin"That's the only intelligent thing they could do," said Hawaiian activist Lela Hubbard, who attends most board of trustees meetings. "I'm hoping we can put new people in."
Kina'u Kamali'i, former trustee and state legislator, said: "What I'm happy for is that they did not string this along, go back to court and waste more money."
She pointed out that if the court does not grant the trustees' bid to remain in place until the election, their resignation renders the board unable to act.
"With four, they won't have quorum, there'll be no voting decisions, but they still have functioning office, an administrator, that can continue to operate," said Kamalii, who plans to run for an at-large seat.
Ha Hawaii is one of the groups that has an application for an OHA education grant that would be stalled without a voting majority, said Raymond Pua. "We haven't been on the agenda, we've already had to wait." The group organized the Native Hawaiian Convention, where delegates discuss sovereignty issues at quarterly sessions on all islands.
Pua, retired as Honolulu city clerk, said the OHA election raises questions. "For them to both resign but be allowed to continue on board until the election ... if it's possible, more power to them. If all nine run this time, how will the question of staggered terms be resolved?"
Rod Ferreira of the Big Island agreed. "Anytime you are challenged, there is a tendency to come together and band together.
"You see a lot of Hawaiians feeling newly empowered," because of the changes wrought at the school, set off three years ago by demonstrations by school alumni, students, parents and teachers against the way former Bishop Estate trustees administered. Ferreira is president of Kamehameha Schools Alumni Association in Kamuela and Kohala.
"The OHA trustees have devised a program to protect themselves," Ferreira said. "There is a concern that Hawaiians move with one voice. There is a feeling that OHA has been dysfunctional with their internal bickering."
H. William Burgess, an advocate of opening the board to non-Hawaiians, said "I hope that more people will run. There is a possibility that actual control of OHA would change.
"I'm deeply skeptical at the trustees. I don't see how they can resign but want to stay in office until the election," said Burgess, who represents 13 plaintiffs seeking a federal court order to force the state to allow non-Hawaiians to run for OHA positions. U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor granted a preliminary injunction in their favor and will make a final decision Friday. Burgess said, "I don't think that just because they are non-Hawaiian they are going to do one thing or another. I want capable people in there who will stop wasting money."
Hubbard said: "Hopefully the fact that we have a wider voter base now, we may be better informed about the machinations of the trustees. It may help to get trustees really worthwhile, who really want to serve the office and not themselves. I think Hawaiians should be only ones to vote but until (the Rice decision) is counteracted, we have to follow the law. There are many non-Hawaiians who may be more astute." She added, "We keep putting the same people back in office ... some of them have been a tremendous embarrassment to the Hawaiian community."
Office of Hawaiian Affairs
