Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 10, 1 ʻOkakopa 1988 — An Open Letter from Eight Trustees: [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

An Open Letter from Eight Trustees:

'Ano 'ai me kealoha, Eaeh of us has received phone calls or been approached about recent events at OHA. We know that a great many of you are concerned by recent changes in Board leadership, and understandably upset by certain allegations that trust money was misspent. Too often, the Hawaiian community gets only a part of the story. Or worse, hears only what sounds like personal attacks. And then we all "make shame" when people start to say "Why can't Hawaiians stop fighting with eaeh other?" or "What's wrong with OHA?"

We're not fighting with eaeh other. And if there is or has been anything wrong with OHA, we're determined to make it right. First, by our unified stance in this eolumn, we are here to reassure the Hawaiian Community that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs has and will continue to act in a responsible manner. We weleome an investigation by the State Attorney General regarding certain charges whieh have been made about the expenditure of trust funds by this Board. We believe that investigation will prove there has been no misappropriation of trust funds.

Second, we want to share with you our determinahon to continue serving all Hawaiians. During the last six months, the full OHA Board of Trustees has approved and embarked on a crucial and ambitious program to: • Assure full Hawaiian entitlement and benefit from the State Fublic Trusts established for OHA;

• Negotiate directly with the Governor's Office to resolve the disputes surrounding this Hawaiian entitlement; • Conduct an OHA Referendum empowering the Hawaiian people to vote on "Who is a Native Hawaiian?"; and • Set in motion cooperative, long-range planning with other Hawaiian puhlie and private trust agencies to prepare for the 21st century.

Our goal is simple — to achieve the best for the Hawaiian people. To share these important plans, the Board hosted a series of four luncheons at the Willows Restaurant and invited more than 200 community leaders to leam about and to respond to our ideas. More important, these luncheons were the plaee for us to ask for help, understanding, and support for these efforts.

Among our guests were members of the Hawaiian Civic Clubs Association, the Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana, Hawaiian Homestead Associations, the Board of Alu Like, trustees of the Bishop Estate, Hui Makakilo, E Ola Mau, Ka Lahui, Queen Lili'uokalani Trust, 'Ahahui Ka'ahumanu, Daughters and Sons of Hawaiian Warriors, the University of Hawaii Hawaiian Studies program, the Department of Health's Native Hawaiian Health Task Force, and many others. We reached out to a full range of Hawaiian leaders, interests, and communities. We will continue to reach out — to ask for your help, and to answer any and all questions whieh you may have. Details about times, dates, and

places for a series of statewide informational meetings will be announced soon. We urge you to eome. To hearour thoughtsand to share your mana'o — so that together we ean make OHA better. Also consistent with our determination to serve all Hawaiians and Hawai'i, we are proceeding with the OHA mailout referendum on the question of a single beneficiary class definition. At a recent Board meeting, we approved a contract with Sequoia Pacific Systems Corporation to print, mail, and tabulate this referendum to 75,000 OHA registered voters. This contract is for $32,800. To avoid any questions about our fiduciary duty, no trust monies will be spent in this effort.

Sequoia Pacific is a nationally-recognized elections firm. State of Hawai'i ballots for most of the last 20 years, have been printed by this firm. Most recently, Sequoia Pacific coordinated a successful mailout balloting for the Hawai'i State Teachers Association. An additional $33,000 has also been approved to pay for the postage and labels necessary to support a mailout referendum. None of this money is to eome from the ceded lands trust revenues. Rather, as provided by law, we have authorized a reallocation of approved General Funds for this purpose.

ls this effort worth the money? Yes. The referendum is an historic empowerment of the Hawaiian people. For the first time in this century, a Hawaiian ballot will be mailed to Hawaiian voters, on the most basic of concerns — deciding who we are and who is entitled to share in the assets and benefits of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. There is a Hawaiian 'olelo no'eau: "The eanoe is not swamped by the outside wave, but by the inside wave." The seas around the Hawaiian people are rough, there are many who would hope to overwhelm us by the outside wave. They ean never succeed. But we must beware of the inside wave. 'Onipa'a. We stand together.

Louis Hao A. Frenchy DeSoto Rodney Kealiimahiai Burgess, III Kevin M.K. "Chubby" Mahoe Thomas K. "Unele Tommy" Kaulukukui Clarence F.T. Ching Moanikeala Akaka Manu Kahaialii

OHA T rustees at Sept. 2 press conf erence, lef t to righ t: Kevin M.K. "Chu bby" Mahoe, Thom as K. "Unele Tommy" Kaulukukui, Sr., Manu Kahaialii, Rodney Kealiimahiai Burgess, III, Louis Hao, A. Frenchy DeSoto, Clarence F.T. Ching, and Moanikeala Akaka.