Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 16, Number 6, 1 Iune 1999 — OHA and the courts [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA and the courts

fOR MONTHS, the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs focused an enormous amount of time and energy on settling the issues on appeal to the Supreme Court from Judge Daniel Heely's order granting summary judgement in OHA vs. State. Now the negotiations are off and so, I feel, is the pressure to keep my disappointment to myself. You all know that, along with Trustees Hee and Trask, I jumped into the settlement discussions around the &st of the year. After two or three meetings, it was clear that Govemor Cayetano's designated representatives were not negotiating anything very seriously. Still, we thought the best interests of our beneficiaries lay in staying at the table, so we

showed up weekly to propose settlement scenarios, hoping the state's negotiators would, as they promised, get back to us. In five months, they responded with two outrageous counter proposals. At one point, the state's team offered to look at segregating 20 percent of the ceded lands and placing that portion under OHA's control. We were supportive of this notion, and, although there was no practical indication as to how this scheme might be executed, we thought it might be the starting point for an agreement. But the offer tumed out to be fatally flawed by the state's inflexible condition that we forever waive our right to sue on behalf of our beneficiaries. So the full Board was never able to consider the proposal as anything but evidence of the state's determinaūon to sabotage the whole settlement process. Such an obvious display of bad faith has clarified to me and others that a negotiated, win-win outcome was never really possible. Just as the Heely talks broke

down, we found we would need to defend the constitutionafity of OHA's elections before the United States Supreme Court whieh is scheduled to hear arguments this October or November in the infamous Rice vs. Cayetano case. Deafing with Attomey General Margery Bronster did not make our job any easier since she also had some inflexible terms of her own. The AG's office, she said, would hire an expert to defend the constitutionafity of the law

fimiting the OHA vote to Hawaiians. OHA would pay the bill and could have no say in the direction of the case or how it would be argued to the court. As a board, we unanimously rejected her proposal. Rather than try to reassure us, AG Bronster continued to pose obstacles. These included her refusal to give our attomeys access to the case files. Personally, I would find it difficult to think of her as an ally, even under better circumstances. Afterall, it was she who hired mainlanū counsel for the appeal in OHA vs. State and who was at his side in the Hawai'i Supreme Court when he argued the state's position. How, therefore, could she advocate with any passion for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs against Freddy Rice? Contrary to what some Hawaiians may feel, in my opinion Bronster is not a friend of Hawaiians. OHA will be hiring several attomeys to craft an amicus curiae brief to suggest to the U.S. Supreme Court the rationale for an outcome to Rice consistent with our conviction that our elee-

tion process is vafid. To select this dream team, Trastee Springer and I traveled to Washington, D.C., and I am confident the investment of a week's time there was well worth the results. Working on our behalf will be Harry Sachse and Reid Pathan Chambers of Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse and Endreson; Susan M. Williams of Williams, Janov and Cooney; Robert Long Jr. of Covington and Burfing; and Jon Van Dyke. We have also hired the Verner Liipfert ftrm whose impressive attorneys include Senators Robert Dole, George Mitchell and former Govemor John Waihe'e. Please support OHA in our efforts to protect the trust. Your guidance and prayers will help us through this crisis and together we shall be successful in our efforts. If there are any questions regarding this article or any other negative article in Ka Wai Ola, please don't hesitate to eontact me at 594-1888 or on line at http://www.surf.to/rowenaakana. Aloha pumehana. ■

CHAIRPERSON'S MESSAGE

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TRUSTEE MESSAGES

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