Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 16, Number 7, 1 Iulai 1999 — KSBE and the IRS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

KSBE and the IRS

f INCE THE May 1997 March to 1 Kawaiaha'o Plaza, I have heard Hawaiian views on the Kame1 hameha Schools/Bishop Estate sitS uation. With the removal and resignation of the five trustees and the appointment of interim acting trustees, we now have a resolution of sorts. Rather than give you my mana'o, I would like you to read the thoughts former Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee Pōkā Laenui Burgess shared with me: "By what standard do I measure right and wrong, justice and injustice, fairness and unfairness?

"I have watched fīve trustees of Bishop Estate made the centerpieee of investigation. AU during this period, I yearned for information beyond the hoopla, the accusations, and the posturing of attomeys, tmstees, parents and politicians. Now, these five have been removed. The gallery of players line up for their media sound-bites. And I'm still waiting for some basis for their removal. "Lokelani Lindsey's removal eame about as a result of a trial. We ean put aside her case. Oswald Stender resigned. We put him aside as well. But why have the other three been removed? "By dictate of the Intemal Revenue Service, it seems, with Circuit Court Judge, Kevin Chang, as its agent! The IRS is not pleased with the trustees and, without any legal or moral authority, it threatens to remove the tax-exempt designation

of the Bishop Estate. Like a pawn, the judge removed the tmstees temporarily to protect the estate's exemption. Like pawns, the interim trustees are seeking permanent removal. "The popular will is satisfied. The media makes no inquiry into this awesome power of the IRS. Popularity polls are taken, and we all pay no mind to the travesty of justice whieh has just taken plaee.

"I have never known the IRS to have the power to grant or withdraw taxexempt status to charitable organizations. It is Congress, through the Internal Revenue Code, whieh determines the qualifications for exemption. The IRS merely "recognizes" exempt status under that code, based upon the charter and the activities of the organization, not on the popularity of the tmstees, nor upon the whim. The IRS should decide and issue its determination, citing its basis for its conclusions. If an organization disagrees, it has a right of appeal to the courts. I

have never heard of the case in whieh the IRS instead leaks its preferences to a probate judge or to interim tmstees, urging them to act accordingly. "To build a cause against Lokelani Lindsey, a story was passed of her calling a Kamehameha student to her office. There, it is told, she intimidated that student with suggestions of ruining his chances of getting into his favored university. The story gamered the disdain of the general public against this type of intimidation. "Why is the Lindsey story intolerable, when the IRS in turn does the same thing? Through the use of fear and intimidation, the IRS is making puppets of our judge, interim trustees and the general public who want to protect the estate. We toss out all mles of fairness. We disregard the eall for a fair trial. We simply follow the popular will and jump for this

opportunity to remove unpopular people. "If the trustees are to be removed, do so on the merits. If Dicky Wong, his family and Henry Peters are guilty of a crime, convict them after a fair hearing. If the tmstees have breached their fiduciary duty, have the judge or jury determine the facts. But, for heaven's sake, let's not engage in witch hunting or throw away faimess based on the bark of the IRS!" ■

"By what standard do I measure right and wrong, justice and injustice, fairness and unfairness?" — Pōkā Laenui

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TRUST EE MESSAGES

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