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Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs elected former U.S. Congressman Kai Kahele as board chairman in a move aimed at putting the agency in a better position to win approval from the Legislature for a high-profile development in Honolulu.

The trustees voted 8-1 Wednesday in favor of Kahele to replace former Chairwoman Carmen Hulu Lindsey, who voted for Kahele when it became apparent she did not have the votes to stay on as leader of the nine-member board.

The trustees oversee the semi-autonomous state agency created in the 1970s for the betterment of Native Hawaiians. They control its trust assets made up of revenues formerly held by the Hawaiian Kingdom that are now valued at nearly $600 million.

“Our job is to make life better for Hawaiians,” Kahele said while accepting his nomination.

Kahele, a former state lawmaker, wants to prioritize development of 30 acres the office owns in Kakaako Makai. OHA has spent years trying to lift a ban on residential developments on those lots that would allow it to construct a 400-foot residential high rise. 

In an interview, Kahele said he wants the trustees to divvy up the 76 state lawmakers and develop working relationships with them. In particular, Kahele said he wants the trustees to work more closely with members of the Legislature’s Native Hawaiian caucus.

Within OHA’s own meetings, Kahele said he plans to prioritize transparency. 

In what may be a hint at how he conducts meetings as chairman, Kahele cancelled the board’s regularly scheduled executive session that would allow the trustees to meet privately with their attorneys. 

He told the board that he didn’t see a reason to convene privately on Wednesday. No one objected.

“One of the things OHA needs to do is reestablish our trust with the general public, with our beneficiaries, with the Legislature,” Kahele said after the meeting.

Kahele said he didn’t expect to win the chairmanship, but heard from trustees in the lead up to the board’s election that they wanted a change in leadership.

The office and former trustees have been criticized in the past for mismanaging OHA’s finances. An audit in 2022 found questionable spending that may have amounted to fraud in some instances.

Keoni Souza, who was elected vice chairman, said during Wednesday’s meeting that the trustees wanted a different approach to the Legislature and management of OHA’s trust resources.

Souza said that Kahele is “exactly what OHA needs right now.”

Luana Alapa, who nominated Kahele, said she “had to follow my heart.”

“I know that what I’ve done –  it was always going to be for all of us, to move forward in the most positive manner,” she said.