Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 13, Number 12, 1 December 1996 — New breed, style of election brings change to OHA board [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

New breed, style of election brings change to OHA board

by Deborah L. Ward j

The 1996 OHA Trastee elee- | tions were different this j year from previous elee- j tions in several ways. First, j there was the spending. Three of the four winning candi- ; dates out-raised and out-spent J more money this year than their

competitors. Then there was the advertising. Leading candidates spent at least $55,000 on radio and print advertising in the period up to Oct. 20,

according to expenditure reports filed with the state Campaign Spending Commission. Haunani Apoliona, Colette Machado and Hannah Springer, who ran successfully on the slate known as "Nā Lei Lōkahi," were elected, Apoliona by a large margin and the other two by small ones. The only returning incumbent is Moses Keale, Sr., 58, who now begins his fifth term as trastee. Apoliona, 47, has been president/ chief executive officer of Alu Like, īne. for six years and has worked with Alu Like since 1978. She best-

ed one-term trastee Kīna'u Boyd Kamali'i, a former state legislator and administrator. Hannah Springer, 44, an ethnographer and historical consultant from Kona, beat out Edwina Moanike'ala Akaka, a three-term trastee and environmental and Hawaiian rights activist from the Big Island. Colette Machado, 45, director of Moloka'i's Ke Kua'āina Hanauna Hou, a community-based development non-profit, topped one-term trustee Sam Kealoha, 48, a fisherman/farmer and Ka Lāhui member. With the election of three new trustees to the OHA board, Hawaiian voters brought about the

largest turnover since 1990 when four trustees were swept from office. The stakes were high. The elections eome at a period in OHA's history when it has been fighting to preserve program

funding from the ceded land trast revenues, and head off attempts by the governor and state legislators to cut off or drastically reduce this revenue, citing a poor state economy. Twenty-three candidates ran for the four available seats. Some did it the the old way, relying on free media, sign-waving and yard signs, coffee hours and word-of-mouth. Others used more sophisticated media. Campaign spending reports filed for the period up to Oct. 20 with the state Campaign Spending Commission show that OHA candidates heavily focused their mass media advertising in Hawaiian radio stations, with only limited print advertising in the Midweek/Sun Press, Honolulu Weekly

and Ka Wai Ola o OHA.

Some did it the the old way, relying on free media, sign-waving and yard signs, coffee hours and word-of-mouth. Others used more sophisticated media.