When Hawai’i residents vote next Tuesday to decide who will fill the nine seats of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs’ Board of Trustees, they could decide the fate of multi-million-dollar programs that benefit Native Hawaiians. This year’s OHA election is
When Hawai’i residents vote next Tuesday to decide who will fill the nine
seats of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs’ Board of Trustees, they could decide
the fate of multi-million-dollar programs that benefit Native
Hawaiians.
This year’s OHA election is unique because it’s the first time
non-Hawaiians are able to vote, the result of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that
opened the voting to all. Previously, only Naive Hawaiians could cast ballot in
the OHA election.
This year’s election, which will feature 96 candidates,
also is special because it boasts a handful of non-Hawaiian
candidates.
Some Native Hawaiians have voiced concern that having
non-Hawaiians in OHA seats could hurt the interests of Native
Hawaiians.
The nine winners in the general election outcome Tuesday will
oversee OHA’s programs and revenue from 1.8 million acres of land set aside for
the benefit of Native Hawaiians.
Some Native Hawaiians believe having a
board dominated by Native Hawaiian trustees will ensure Hawaii’s aboriginal
people will maintain control of those assets.
Some advocates for an
independent nation said they would like the assets to be transferred to the
Hawaiian Kingdom and that government’s laws reinstated.
Sovereignty
supporters contend the Hawaiian nation remains intact because the overthrow of
the monarchy in 1893 and the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the United
States in 1895 were illegal.
The trustees who were in office at the time of
the U.S. Supreme Court ruling resigned in September. Governor Ben Cayetano
appointed an interim board, including three of the incumbents who had stepped
down, to serve until this month’s election.
Randy Rego, who is seeking the
Kaua’i-Ni’ihau seat and who also attended the forum in Anahola, has said OHA’s
$370 million portfolio can help Hawaiians get better education and affordable
housing. Rego said “foreigners” should be prohibited from buying Hawaiian
lands.
In addition to Rego, candidates for the Kaua’i seat are Jean
Beniamina of Kekaha, Donald Cataluna of Koloa, Eloise Oclit of Kapa’a and
James Torio of Anahola.
The Kaua’i seat became vacant after Moses Keale
resigned Oct. 31, 1999, for health-related reasons.
Up for grabs in a
regular election are four seats that will expire in 2004 and five seats in a
special election that will expire in 2002.
In the regular election,
candidates will compete for one at-large seat, and seats for Kaua’i, the Big
Island and Molokai. These seats expire this year.
In the special election,
candidates are vying for three at-large seats and two other seats for O’ahu and
Maui. Their terms expire in 2002.
Kimo Evans, who has a post office box in
Kilauea, is running for one of three at-large seats in the special election,
officials said.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681
(ext. 225) and lchang@pulitzer.net
