Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 9, Number 11, 1 Nowemapa 1992 — At-large Candidates [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

At-large Candidates

Kawehi Kanui Gill Qualifications: My qualifications are historical, logical and practical. I have been involved with Hawaiian politics for

almost all of my life. Being a Hawaiian born on this soil into a poor and hardI working family, I was very fortunate to have the kind of upbringing

mai weaveu īnio tnis contemporary world, the ways of my kupuna who taught me and shared with me my culture and pride as a kanaka maoli. As kanaka maoli (indigenous, true human) we have all been struggling to find our identity. I have 'ohana who are just that. 'Ohana, in the very essence of being who we are. I have run for poliiieal office before. I have helped others run for public office and with the knowledge of our history as a people. 1 started out from the grass roots

and leamed all I could about things that college will never teach a kanaka maoli. I eome from Waimanalo and have eome to really see what the needs of our people are through the eyes of the young and older kanaka maoli who live out their years without knowing the truth about our people. ... about who we are. Goals in office: I woulo like to bridge those gaps, i.e. bridging the grass roots with the mainstream Hawaiians who have both the experience and the "know how" about how to build a nation, and to link strongly with those kanaka maoli who have dire needs like housing, health, jobs, the "waiting list" (DHHL) just to name a few issues. I would like to see more being done by OHA on issues such as: water, ceded lands, sovereignty for the kanaka maoli; and to develop a hanai program in the Hawaiian way, without state interferenee with one's civil and political rights, as stated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a new human rights law, ratified by the U.S. Senate on April 2, 1992, deposited at the United Nations by President Bush on June 8, 1992, and made effective Sept. 8, 1992.

•Louis Hao Qualifications: I have the basics — education and experience of 30 years in gov-

e r n m e n t administrative services. I have been a e t i v e 1 y involved in community planning and problem solving. I am prepared (eight years as

trustee) and ready to serve. Goals in office: Hawaiian search for justice and faimess. I intend to activate those principles on their behalf. Most pressing problem facing Hawaiians today: I believe the most pressing problems are housing and socioeeonomie conditions of Hawaiians, followed by education and health. These problems have been identified and prioritized in respective community meetings. We must now direct our OHA mindset toward resolving these needs.

What would you do to make Congress and the administration recognize and carry out the federal trust responsibility to Native Hawaiians? I would remind both Congress and the Administration of commitments made three times — in the 1898 Resolution of Annexation, in the 1920 Hawaiian Home Act, and in the 1959 Admission Act (statehood). Statehood was a contract made by all the citizens of Hawai'i in exchange for admission to the union. The new state assumed all of the prior and present tmst responsibility to the Native Hawaiians. How will you ensure that OHA promptly receives from the state its full settlement of past-due revenues from the ceded lands trust? A bill must be introduced into the state Legislature for the specific purpose of setting past due moneies to Hawaiians. It should ensure all payments (those past due to present) to OHA with prompt and timely payments. The priorities established above should be used as the basis for budget distribution. But more importantly, OHA needs to invest a specific amount of money to continued on page 5