Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 6, 1 June 2014 — ONE VOICE, [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ONE VOICE,

I hen Office of | Hawaiian Affairs Ka Pouhana, Chief Executive

Officer Kamana'opono Crabbe and OHA trustees emerged from a meeting of reconciliation on May 19, they pledged to move

forward together with "one voice" traveling down "one path." The meeting capped a tumultuous 10 days where the two sides were locked in a dispute after Crabbe sent a May 5 letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry asking for a legal opinion on the status of the Hawaiian kingdom, and whether OHA could be violating international law bv nursuina a Native Hawai-

ian governing entity.

Trustees quickly rescinded the letter, saying it did not reflect board policy, although two trustees, Dan Ahuna and Hulu

Lindsey, later asked their names be removed from the letter rescinding the May 5 letter. Chairperson Colette Machado and Crabbe sat down with Ka Wai 01 a on May 21 to discuss the events that led to Crabbe's decision to send his letter to Kerry, the pressures

they face, criticism that OHA has not been responsive to community 6 concerns on Nation building, and the reconciliation between the

administration and trustees. 3 To see the May 5 - letter, visit http:// bit.ly/lgpyZ4N.

On the May 19 meeting between trustees and Grabbe: CRABBE: It could have gone a very typical legal, corporate route where the board eonvenes without me and they make a decision. ... I think a majority of the trustees felt they needed to hear from me first. MACHAD0: The first step was whether Kamana'o remains in the room. But it was agreed he stays because we needed to talk to him about . . . what actually transpired: the transactions that took plaee and the outcomes. So that was the first step. I felt that the trustees were trying to move to create an equal halanee for him to be participatory in the dialogue. 0n the ho'oponopono (process of reconciliation) that took plaee during the meeting and the role of cuttural practitioner Earl Kawa'a, who was credited with helping Crabbe and the board work through their problems: MACHAD0: (Kawa'a) was telling mo'olelo and a!ready he could sense, I guess if you do this all the time you know when the group is ready, and he knew we were ripe already when we were talking about our true feelings. He said, "You are in ho'oponopono now, and we have to go to the next level and we take one issue at a time." That's how it happened and it was very, very valuable I ean tell you. I see some of the hurt feelings because we didn't take punitive action against (Crabbe) by at least one trustee . . . but there is a unanimous agreement that we want to move forward and we still want him as the head of the organization as the chief executive officer. CRABBE: Chair had strong words about how my actions had offended her, because while we have a good working relationship, my actions had caught her off-guard.

I had not been forthcoming. I didn't share my actions not even with the executive team. . . . (Some) trustees were expecting some disciplinary action, but yet I felt compassion from them because they understood the dilemma I was experiencing. But for me, the frustration, the hurt, all of these mixed emotions, I felt we needed the kupuna (Kawa'a) to help guide not just the board, but primarily the chair and I to restore our trust in eaeh other as the leaders and our relationship. I think both of us were hurt, angry, frustrated because we didn't know where eaeh other was coming from and we have a lot of moving pieces to the puzzle both internally and externally. This is not an easy process and, in a way, it comes to a point where we have to put aside our pride and our ego and reorient ourselves to our organization and our community: what's in their best interest? And I needed to eall upon (Kawa'a) to help us walk through that process. On the events that led to Crabbe sending the May 5 letter to Secretary of State Kerry: CRABBE: What I brought to the table, whieh I probably never expressed to them as a whole as well as individual trustees, were the challenges I was experiencing as well as the executive team when we went out to community meetings and Kāmau a Ea (Hawaiian governance summits) was some pressure from the community. I had some personal threats to myself. MACHAD0: He felt he was all alone with some of the things that were happening, that he was on the front line all alone. The calls were coming in, the pressure was building, the attacks and calling him names and the threats to him and his family were coming in, but he didn't share that with anybody. That he kept to himself. GRABBE: I think that lots of things were building up and things had occurred so

quickly within these past two months that not only I but I think the whole organization was under tremendous pressure from all over, and I thank the chair and the trustees for allowing just the opportunity to share and what a lot of those things had weighed into my decision. It was weeks of contemplation before I had written the letter. MAOHAŪO: I should have allowed more time where he could have said: "Chair, I need to talk to all the trustees. Can we executive session this?" Then we would be able to get the gut, the na'au, whieh had to eome out. Instead of allowing us to have that opportunity, it went the other way and we were caught off-guard with what took plaee. On the current status of the letter: GRABBE: Based on the trustees' letter, it's been rescinded. (I'm) comfortable (with that) because stepping back now we ean address these concems. MAOHAŪO: The questions are going to be on the forefront. We need to address this openly and publicly. What if (the State Department) did say the Hawaiian kingdom is not in force, that everything was lost in the overthrow? Where is that going to take us in what we do now? What would be the impact of the question if it was answered and it eame out negative? How would that impact us? Do we know the ramifications? I don't think so. So it's a real issue. I'mhoping that as we dial (that issue) up we ean bring in experts. On community frustration that OHA has

not addressed their concerns about the current process of Nation building - including extension of time for the processto play out, an alternative way to sign up to be a part of the process and the need for further education - and on a board meeting scheduled for May 29 to address these issues: CRABBE: People need to understand there are (Board of Trustees) committees. There are processes that are set, and by the time it gets to the board level, you would want these issues fleshed out with staff with some other trustees. We weren't afforded the time . . . to process the community meetings and the Kāmau a Ea summits to move forward. There's a lot built up not just for me personally but even other trustees were feeling the same thing. It's just that we didn't know how to eome together and finally address it. I think Chair and I knew (these issues) would be on the agenda on the 29th and I think a lot of things were building up during the community meetings in April. I don't think any of us could have anticipated that the community would eome out that loud or that passionate. MAGHAD0: What we agreed to is we're going to work together, allow the (meeting on the) 29th to take plaee; if there are (needed) amendments, if there's a change of heart, let it be known on the 29th. We still have (our original) plan. If it (needs to be) amended, we are going to resolve ourselves into executive session to discuss it. We're going to begin the meeting with

those that support and those who oppose. We're going to have an open dialogue for as long as it takes on the 29th. If we ean go 10 hours on Maui, I ean go 10 hours in a conference room. On concerns OHA continues to seek some form of recognition on the federal level while pledgingto stay neutral in the Nation-building process: MAGHAD0: There is a unanimous agreement as trustees that it is our duty and our mission to preserve and protect our entitlements for the future, and federal acknowledgement allows for the funding to (continue to) eome down. We're clear now it's two separate issues. This governance development in Hawai'i that we're moving to create is separate from getting the acknowledgement from (the U.S. Department oD Interior about our special trust relationship. GRABBE: Even though we're committed to our Nation-building process, another way to view it is that we still have a fiduciary obligation, because as this Nation-building process moves forward, we are still vulnerable. OHA is vulnerable, other Native Hawaiian institutions and all the federal programs are vulnerable to cuts in funding and to lawsuits. The board is very clear at all levels of govemment and advocacy : We have to act in the best interests to protect OHA's trust and resources and also the trusts and resources of other Native Hawaiian institutions as mueh as possible. MAOHAŪO: The best thing for me, as trustees, we must man up that we support federal recognition and we have and continue to support that for whatever reasons, and we support Act 195 and the state recognition. This is the trustees' policy. We need to be sure we ean communicate that mueh more clearly. CRABBE: Even though that's the board policies . . . when we support Nation-building and say, "We are neutral; we will facilitate," it means we will try to work with other Hawaiian stakeholders whether that's Ali'i trusts, royal societies, other Native Hawaiian organizations and community leaders in bringing them into the process, supervising it and being part of decision making where OHA is not the leader. We mean it - we want to be neutral in the sense that all of the decision making that goes into the execution of contracts, that it's a transparent process in terms of the elections and the 'aha convention structure. I think the board has always been open to the community feedback and after the community meetings and now on May 29th

we're finally getting to address it as a board, as an administration and as a community. I think OHA is mueh more responsive now because Chair has heard it, I have heard it, staff has heard it and other trustees have heard it, and so now let's truly hear from others and have an opportunity to get back to (the community) given we are now at a point where we ean re-evaluate moving forward with our current timeline, and ask what are the education needs of our community and how people ean participate in the future. On their relationship and working together in the future: MAGHAD0: 1 know for certain that no matter what happens Kamana'o and I need to be very specific and direct. If we have something to express we need to get that out straight and as succinct as what we feel from inside. We need to allow for some open dialogue and we have to be honest, not let us think that we're doing OK and we're not. This is where we're going to improve because at the level of mihi and the level of forgiveness, for me, was deep. I went deep to open myself to asking for mihi, to forgive me. That's a commitment for me to rebuild that you no get in a business statement or motion. That comes from inside. I have to uphold that as an individual. GRABBE: Moving forward, what I agreed to and we had clear understanding and expectations laid out, that something as great as the letter I had written, I now understand will need the input of Chair and the trustees. We need to work together to address these issues as the leaders of OHA. ■

INĪERVIEWED BY GAREĪĪ KAMEMOĪO

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Chairperson Machado and Ka Pouhana Crabbe before the interview. Top right, the pair was interviewed by Garett Kamemoto in the executive conference room. - Photos: Nebon Gaspar and lohn Matsuzaki