Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 3, Number 3, 1 March 1986 — In Response ... [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

In Response ...

Editor'sNote: TrusteeKealoha requested the opportunity to reply to trustee Akaka's eolumn. His response follows.

I appreciate the opportunity to respond to Trustee Akaka's remarks. I am sorry she sees fit to use the Trustees' eolumn to launeh a personal attack on me. I do not intend to respond in kind. However, there are two major factual errors in Trustee Akaka's eolumn whieh should be pointed out. In the first paragraph of

her statement she deliberately misquotes the Ethics Commission opinion whieh clears me of conflict of interest charges. Her version reads that the Commission admits that "there is a strong appearance of impropriety from Kealoha's role in land sale negotiations between Seibu and Maui property owners". What the opinion actually says is that "the Commission expressed eoneem over the possibilify of a strong appearance of impropriety arising when Mr. Kealoha deals with a Hui member and Seibu in his capacity as a real estate broker when at the same time the Board of Trustees might be determining whether to provide additional monetary aid or other support to the Hui for its lawsuit against Seibu".

(The italicized line is mine.) The change in language is significant. By deleting the words "the possibility," (present in both the opinion and the newspaper article mentioned), Trustee Akaka completely alters the sense of the paragraph and the intent of the Commission. The eoneem expressed by the Commission refers to a speculative future set of circumstances. The opinion suggests that in order to avoid the appearanee of impropriety under such circumstances, I should make it clear that I am functioning in my capacity as a real estate broker and not as a representative of OHA and should disqualify myself at OHA meetings with respect to the Hui's request for support or other official action. These are actions I would take in any case.

The other major error in Trustee Akaka's eolumn is her statement that "... Chairman Kealoha was signed on by the developers, Seibu . . ." In fact I am representing the owners of the land whieh Seibu is seeking to purchase. This is confirmed by the Ethics Commission opinion whieh, after a thorough investigation, determined that "The Commission accepted, however, Mr. Kealoha's contention that he did not and does not represent Seibu or serve as its agent". Thank you for the opportunity to set the record straight. Joseph G. Kealoha Jr. Trustee from Maui