Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Campaign 2000
A Look At Hot Races And Issues
HILO -- Restore the Kingdom of Hawaii. Big Island
OHA candidates’ views
vary widely
General Election Guide
By Rod Thompson
Star-BulletinCreate a new master plan for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
Cancel OHA elections until the state Constitution is amended.
Those are varied ideas from the three candidates for OHA trustee from the Big Island.
Retired police Capt. Arthur Hoke, 65, said OHA should be independent from the state government. He would also like to see the Hawaiian government of 1893 restored.
Ethnography consultant and current incumbent Hannah Springer, 48, said OHA needs comprehensive information on Hawaiians to show what direction the agency should take.
Retired musician Lillian "Linda" Dela Cruz, 71, said the state Constitution should be amended before non-Hawaiians vote in OHA elections.
As in all OHA races, voting on the three Big Island candidates is statewide.
Hoke said OHA must break its ties with the state to keep Hawaiian control of the agency.
"We should have used our own funds to pay for our own elections," he said.
OHA needs to generate its own income, in part by linking with other Hawaiian trusts, he said.
Hoke said he believes the 1893 annexation of Hawaii by the United States was illegal and that the laws and land titles of the kingdom are still valid.
He would like to see 2 million acres of ceded lands -- about half the state -- put under control of a restored kingdom.
Springer knows such matters get some people's blood racing.
"Passion brings us to the arena where work gets done," she said. But once work starts, "I prefer decision-making to be based on data rather than passion," she said.
A detailed database on Hawaiians is needed, she said. "How many Hawaiians are there? How many are 50 percent aboriginal blood?"
OHA needs a new master plan, she said. The current one was last reviewed in 1988.
"Let's let the data reveal where we need to go," she said.
She also enjoys a sense of humor. "If we come to the table light of heart, our backs can assume greater burdens," she said.
Dela Cruz also takes humor to heart, but she opposed non-Hawaiians serving on the OHA board -- for their own good. "If anything goes wrong, we're going to blame the non-Hawaiian."
Dela Cruz criticized Gov. Ben Cayetano for pressuring trustees to resign.
"He's not Kamehameha," she said.
The state Constitution must be amended before non-Hawaiians can vote in OHA elections, she said. Until then, Cayetano should cancel OHA elections.
Hawaii voters should pick the best qualified candidates for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs board -- regardless of their ethnicity, according to Gov. Ben Cayetano. OHA: Groups say vote
Hawaiian only; Gov says
ignore ethnicity
By Pat Omandam and Treena Shapiro
Star-BulletinBut four organizations urged voters today to vote only for Hawaiian candidates for OHA in next Tuesday's general election.
A dozen representatives from the Japanese American Citizens League, the People's Fund, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and the 'Ahahui O Hawai'i gathered at the state Capitol.
They encouraged non-Hawaiian voters to show support for native Hawaiians either by not casting votes in the OHA race or voting only for Hawaiian candidates.
"We must view our role in the OHA election within the broader context of attacks by non-native individuals, including some OHA candidates, who seek to terminate native trusts and reparations," said Carrie Ann Shirota of 'Ahahui O Hawai'i, a group of Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian law students.
AFSC's Kyle Kajihiro said there is no shortage of leaders among native Hawaiians.
"We believe that the right of Hawaiians to elect their own leaders is not only pono (right and just), but is a fundamental principle of self-determination --a right accorded to all peoples under international law," he said.
But Cayetano believes it is irresponsible not to vote when given the opportunity to do so. OHA voters should elect the most dedicated, caring and honest people as trustees, he said yesterday.
The agency has been mired in ethnic politics for so long that trustees did not have to respond to the rest of the population when they got carried away with their remarks or actions, he said.
"I think by a large number of non-Hawaiians voting in OHA, you'll see that level out, and you'll see that the candidates who do survive and are elected will probably perhaps behave a little different in the future," he said.
The Nov. 7 election is the first time all registered voters in the state -- not just ethnic Hawaiians -- will be eligible to vote in the OHA races.
