Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 19, Number 3, 1 April 2002 — Let the 'sunshine' in [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Let the 'sunshine' in

In Hawai'i there is a law that provides for open governmental decision making, Chapter 92, commonly known as the "Sunshine Law," is important today because it compels government agencies like OHA to be more accountable to their constituents, īn our case, the Sunshine Law lays out the standard for decision making by requiring that the Hawaiian comimmity and public be notified of every single issue the Trustees will be deliberating at least six days prior to the meeting, That means that Trustees must detail the information they will be discussing at any given meeting and give the public the opportunity to show up and express their concerns, For the most part, OHA has honored the intent of the law, However, there are a few exceptions that may prove damaging to our ability to move forward and conduct business in a professional and dutiful fashion, On Feb, 15,

hours before the Board was to remove Clayton Hee as ehainnan, young John Waihe'e's committee of two on Program Management made a last ditch effort to "save face" when they called in a press conferenee, The press was told about the $1,5 million cemetery purchase, a good idea maybe, but we wouldn't know that because there was never any discussion or budget prepared to determine feasibility of such a purchase, ,And what about educational, heahh and other programs? How would they be affected? Apparently, no one at OHA knew the answers but they approved it anyway. Another fact left out of the press release was that Trustee Waihe'e's committee threw everything into the agenda without regard for the beneficiaries or organizations that would be served, No notice to the public is a direct violation of the Sunshine Law and a not so subtle disregard for beneficiary input.

īn defense of his actions, Trustee Waihe'e noted that he never originally intended to plaee the $1,5 million purchase of a cemetery on the agenda, He only did so at the insistence of his colleague, Trustee Rowena ,Akana. Perhaps he was not aware of the Sunshine Law, an honest mistake and a lesson learned? Or, maybe Trustee ,Akana overpowered his better judgment with her incessant nagging? Lord knows how difficult it is to hold fast to your convictions when faced with such an overzealous and abusive advocate, The point is that several important laws were broken, The most obvious is the Sunshine Law for a remedy ean be made by placing the $1,7 million cemetery on the agenda and giving it a proper hearing, The second law violated is the unwritten law of ethical duty to our Hawaiian beneficiaries, The Sunshine Law is one of the only safeguards beneficiaries have to moni-

tor the decision making of their Trust assets, When we as Trustees choose to ignore or overlook that law for political favors we violate a sacred trust with our people, Over the years, OHA has managed to lose the trust of many Hawaiians through poor decisionmaking and clandestine activities, That era needs to end soon if we ever intend to overcome the pressures of private interests bent on destroying Hawaiian trust assets, We need to be more accountable to our beneficiaries, Open and honest decision making will help OHA focus on the issues that matter most to our people, Pushing issues through the back door does nothing to nurture that trust, and creates a good deal of frustration, and only fuels enemies who want to eliminate the state and federal government's trust obligations to Hawaiians, It's time that OHA begin looking at issues based on merit, ■

Colette Machado Trusfee, Moloka'i and Lāna'i