Incumbents Look To Hold Off Reformers In OHA Trustee Elections
Trustees Apoliona, Machado and Lindsey want another term. Could high-profile challengers upsetÌýthe status quo?
Possibly the safest electoral seats in Hawaii have been on the .
For 20 years, voters haveÌýconsistently returned the same people to theÌýboard of OHA, which is charged with improving the livesÌýof Native Hawaiians regardingÌýland,Ìýculture, economic self sufficiency, health, education and governance.
Saturday’sÌýprimary election to fill four seats on the board features two trustees who have served since 1996 — Colette Machado andÌýHaunani Apoliona — and have rarely experiencedÌýa close election. Another trustee, Robert Lindsey Jr., has served since 2007.
The seatsÌýup for election include Apoliona’s at-large position, Lindsey’s Hawaii Island seat, Machado’s Molokai seat and the Kauai seat currently held byÌýDan Ahuna (who is unopposed).
Machado and Apoliona are past OHA chairs and Lindsey is the current chair.
Machado and Apoliona are also chair and vice chair, respectively, of OHA’sÌý, which has a huge kuleana (responsibility): to recommendÌýpolicies for management of the OHA’sÌýinvestment portfolio and other financialÌýmatters, and toÌýdevelop policies for land acquisitions, dispositions, development and management. Its core operatingÌýbudget was $36 million in 2015.
Generally, the current OHA board has operated with a certain steadiness, although there are continuing legal battles with trustee Rowena Akana, who is on the outs with the current board leadership.
High-Profile Issues
In recent yearsÌýOHA has been embroiled in several high-profile issues:
• The actions of Kamana‘opono Crabbe, OHA’s Ka Pouhana or CEO, after CrabbeÌýsought an opinion from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry regarding the status of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
• The indirect financial assistance for the Nai Aupuni self-governance convention (OHA gaveÌýabout $2 million to a nonprofit that gave money to Nai Aupuni).
• The fight over telescopes andÌýcultural and environmental rights on Mauna Kea (the board rescinded its support for the Thirty Meter Telescope project).
This election, several challengers are campaigning to shake up the OHA board.
They include a former trustee and independence activist, Mililani Trask, and Kelii Akina, head of the . Though they have very different backgrounds, there has been speculation that they might be in cahootsÌýbecause both want to reform OHA.
“OHA needs to be more transparent and it needs to be more accountable,” Trask said in her Civil Beat candidate questionnaire. “OHA staff and trustees are unaware of the rules and ethical standards they are required to follow as a state agency. Training for all OHA trustees and personnel should be undertaken yearly by theÌýOffice of Information Practices, state and county ethics commissions and a compliance officer retained to advise the BOT and staff on these regulations and to review office procedures and report on deficiencies and violations.”
Trask is also worried about OHA’s funding and helping Hawaiians struggling to find housing, jobs and an education. Too many Hawaiians, in her view, are incarcerated or dealing with drug addiction.
Akina took the lead role in suing to halt a scheduledÌýNai Aupuni election of convention delegates, forcing Nai Aupuni to cancel the election last fall. He believes the self-governance process is unconstitutional.
In his candidate questionnaire, Akina said there are two ways he would change OHA:
First, I will work to stop OHA from continuing to waste tens of millions of dollars on creating a divisive, race-based sovereign nation. Instead, I will insist that those funds be spent on meeting real needs of Hawaiians, such as solving the problem of homelessness, and providing for education, housing, job opportunity and health care.Ìý Secondly, I will work for term limits so that the same trustees do not remain in office for decades, continuing to pursue failed policies.
Akina believes that OHA should work to unite peopleÌýrather than divide them.
“That’s the Hawaiian way, which recognizes that we are all boats in the same harbor,” he said.
Past Runners-Up
Trask and Akina finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the OHA at-large trustee race in 2014. The top three finishers, including Akana, were incumbents who each were returned to office that year.
Lindsey easily won his Hawaii Island trustee contest in 2012 while Kauai Island trustee Ahuna defeated 10 other candidates.
In addition to Akina, Apoliona also faces fiveÌýother challengers for the at-large seat: Daniel Anthony, Douglass Crum, Leona Mapuana Kalima, Paul Ledwith Mossman and Kealii Makekau.
In her candidate questionnaire, Apoliona said OHA “is performing its mandate, but not enough is being done due to internal and external barriers.”
Those barriers includeÌýlimited OHA resources, costs of “threatened and actual” litigation, weak support fromÌýCongress forÌýNative Hawaiian issues and a need for “improved communication methods and means for disseminating accurate information and facts to leaders and the public,” she said
Apoliona is also concerned about the high incarceration rates of Hawaiians.
As well, she would like the elected leaders of a Native Hawaiian governing entity (such asÌýone that could come fromÌýthe Nai Aupuni convention process that wasÌýheld in February)Ìýto “renegotiate or litigate” overÌýceded lands revenues for all Hawaiians.ÌýThe lands are 1.8 million acresÌýthat belongedÌýto theÌýHawaiian monarchy prior to the 1893 overthrow.
Calls For An Audit
Makekau, meanwhile, wants “a complete, independent fiscal forensic audit of all holdings and resources followed by a review of the Board of Trustees policy handbook and master plan by a committee of the whole.”
According to his candidate questionnaire, Makekau (who lost to Apoliona in 2012, a race Akina also lost) wants term limits for OHA trustees. He does not believe the agencyÌýis fulfilling its mandate. He argues that the focus on the formation of aÌýgovernment entity or tribe similar to Native Americans came “at a failed cost of $33 million plus.”
Meanwhile, he said, OHAÌý“let economic opportunities like a medical marijuana dispensary and the development of the Kakaako Makai properties remain sidelined without a master plan either due to incompetence or instructions that the new tribal entity will have the first shot at that and more.”
Machado, who was unchallenged forÌýher Molokai trustee seat four years ago, faces challengers Jerry (Manuwa) Flowers and Alapai Hanapi this year.
OHA elections are open to all registered voters in Hawaii. If no candidate receives a majority of the vote, the top two finishers will face off in the November general election.
“If you care about our host culture and the future of Hawaii, you should take the time to educate yourself about the candidates and vote in the OHA races this election year,” Crabbe said.
