Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 17, Number 3, 1 March 2000 — OHA's first blow, Rice, second blow, Cayetano [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA's first blow, Rice, second blow, Cayetano

B y Ryan Mielke ESS THAN 24 hours after the Feb. 23 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of Big Island rancher L Harold "Freddy" Rice in Rice vs. Cayetano , trustees at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs were dealt a second blow - not by Rice but by Gov. Ben Cayetano. While many in the Hawaiian, academic and legal communities had conceded the possibility of the court's decision allowing non-Hawaiians to vote in OHA elections, few forecasted the governor's decision to almost immediately sweep all but one trustee from office. His decision to replace eight of the nine trustees comes on the heels of a recommendation he said he received from Hawai'i's attorney general. "I have been advised by the attorney general's office that existing law authorizes me to appoint interim trustees to fill

eight of the nine OHA seats," said Cayetano in a statement Feb. 23. "My most recent appointment, Don Cataluna, is not affected by the ruling. Therefore, I have asked him to stay on. ... My immediate task is to find replacements for the eight trustees whose elections were declared unlawful."

In a separate statement from Sen. Daniel Inouye, the governor's actions were provided implicit agreement. "I believe that the governor has authority under a separate State of Hawai'i statute to appoint interim trustees so that the important work of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs need not be interrupted,"

said Inouye. The governor's action has OHA trustees fighting back. OHA Board of Trustees Chairman Clayton Hee immediately called an emergency meeting of the board after the Rice decision and the govemor's subsequent maneuver to remove all elected See OHA on page 16

IN ITS RULING, THE U.S. SUPREME COURT DID N0T DISPUTE: • that Native Hawaiians are the native people of these islands, • that their sovereignty was taken without eonsent, • that their lands were taken without compensation, • that the U.S. has a responsibility for the loss of that sovereignty and I land. For a copy of the eomplete decision, including dissenting opinions, log on to www.OHA.org or www.NativeHawaiians. eom.

I HO'OKAHI PU'UWAI — Trustees Machado, Cataluna, DeSoto, Board Attorney Sherry Broder, Chairman Hee andTrustees Springer, Akana, Apoliona and, in back, Hao addressed the media on Feb. 25. Trustee Trask, at the time, was in Europe.