The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is scheduled to meet Thursday in hopes of approving a contract for deputy courts administrator Clyde Namuo to become the new OHA administrator. OHA meeting to settle
administrator’s contractBy Pat Omandam
pomandam@starbulletin.comNamuo is expected to make a decision on whether to accept the job early this week. He was chosen from among 18 applicants to replace former administrator Randy Ogata, whose contract expired yesterday.
OHA Chairwoman Haunani Apoliona said contract talks with Namuo are continuing.
Namuo's decision may be complicated because he may be in line to replace his boss, courts administrator Michael Broderick, who is leaving to become the executive director at the Hawaii Justice Foundation.
Broderick, in a statement released yesterday, said the "close proximity" between his decision and the situation surrounding Namuo and OHA are unrelated. He said he was told he got the job last Saturday -- two days after the OHA board had selected Namuo as its next administrator.
Hawaii Chief Justice Ronald Moon will appoint Broderick's successor. The courts administrator makes up to $90,041 a year. The OHA administrator's salary is $85,302 a year, plus fringe benefits and perks.
OHA Deputy Administrator Ronald Mun was named interim acting administrator until a new administrator takes office.
Mun was to have been appointed at a meeting this past Thursday but the board did not have a quorum.
Apoliona said she's disheartened some people are using Namuo's 1991 no contest plea to a petty misdemeanor to discredit him. Namuo pleaded no contest to a charge of open lewdness near the Diamond Head tennis courts.
His conviction was erased from his record under a plea agreement because he has stayed out of trouble.
Namuo has said there were other circumstances surrounding the incident, and considers it a "non-issue" in his application for OHA administrator.
Apoliona said Namuo has paid his debt to society.
"I think what we have to focus on is his skills and experience in organizational management and planning, and fiscal oversight," Apoliona said.
Office of Hawaiian Affairs
