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Let those elected The nine trustees elected to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs should be the ones with the authority to conduct emergency business at OHA, not the holdover interim board, says trustee-elect Rowena Akana.
to OHA board
get on with the
job, Akana says
An election challenge has
stalled the new trustees'
taking office and getting
down to workBy Pat Omandam
Star-BulletinAkana, who resigned in mid-term last September and was forced to run for the seat she vacated, doesn't believe the interim board appointed by Gov. Ben Cayetano should continue as holdover de facto trustees until an election challenge is resolved and the elected board can take office.
"We came up the hard way, and we did it," Akana said yesterday. "The election now is whole. It is not tainted."
A ceremony to swear in the new board was postponed this week after unsuccessful OHA candidate Kaui Jochanan Amsterdam filed an election complaint in the Hawaii Supreme Court. As a result, the interim board still retains its power until the challenge is completed, according to the state Attorney General's Office.
Akana, however, suggested that Cayetano "do the right thing" and appoint the elected trustees so they can proceed and not wait for the challenge to be resolved. Amsterdam claims non-native Hawaiian voters influenced the outcome of the OHA election and that the results did not express the will of Hawaiians.
Most expect the case to be dismissed by the high court within a few weeks.
State Deputy Attorney General Charleen Aina said yesterday that state law says the trustees who are authorized to do business at OHA during an election challenge period are those who were there prior to the Nov. 7 general election. In this case, Aina said, it means the interim holdover trustees remain in control.
Aina said the newly elected board has no power until it is sworn in and organized. In theory, the governor could appoint the trustee-elects as interim trustees if there were vacancies on the OHA board, but there are none since no interim trustee has resigned.
Meanwhile, the attorney general's office has received a letter signed by six of the winners this week asking it to promptly file a motion to dismiss Amsterdam's complaint so the board can move forward "without any possible cloud over it."
They said the U.S. Supreme Court's Rice vs. Cayetano decision allows non-Hawaiians to vote in the OHA election and shows Amsterdam's claim has no merit.
OHA Special
Rice vs. Cayetano arguments
Rice vs. Cayetano decision
Holo I Mua: Sovereignty Roundtable
