Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 1, Number 1, 1 October 1980 — The Need for A Cross- Section [ARTICLE]

The Need for A Cross- Section

Now that the difficult task of voter registration is over, most of the 55,000 Hawaiians registered to vote in the OH A Special Election are concentrating on the nine memers who will govern as the first Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. From Hawai'i to Kaua'i, most of us are puzzling over the information available that may provide a elue to allow us to make an intelligent decision for whom to vote on November 4. There are eighty (80) candidates running" AT LARGE" from whieh not more than four (4) ean be elected; and there are candidates from eaeh of the islands of Hawai'i, Maui, Moloka'i, O'ahu, and Kaua'i and only one (1) on eaeh island ean be elected. Of course, the ehoiee is even more difficult for those Hawaiians who may not know WHO'S WHO on the other islands, even though they're voting for them, too. There have been massive attempts to inform the Hawaiian community about the OHA candidates and I believe these have been quite informative. For instance, Alu Like mailed out 20,000 copies of their newspaper that featured candidate profiles; the Department of Hawaiian Homes Lands mailed out another 40,000 copies to homesteaders, beneficiaries on their waiting list, and a partial list of registered voters. The Volunteers for OHA sponsored a series of profiles on all of the OHA candidates on KCCN radio and there were and still are literally dozens of forums for candidates held daily on all of the islands that provide an opportunity for the registered voters to meet the candidates and listen to their respective viewpoints. The Hawaiian community has dramatically and enthusiastically rallied to create strong interest and focus on the OHA election and candidates. Various Hawaiian agencies and private trusts have also contributed significantly to this undertaking. It is incredible how the Hawaiians in this State have responded positively to OHA in such a short period of time. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs was designed for Hawaiians to participate through the election of Trustees who will make decisions affecting their beneficiaries. As a result, two important elements are satisfied: participation by the Hawaiian beneficiaries and accountability of the elected Trustees to those same Hawaiian beneficiaries. Without these two elements, OHA cannot possibly succeed.

But onee again, there still exists the difficult task of trying to decide for whom to vote. it is my firm belief that the real issue is notfor WHOM TO VOTE, BUT FOR WHAT to for in eaeh candidate. In order to maximize voter participation and future registration, it is strongly felt that because the Hawaiian beneficiaries represent such a wide range of backgrounds, educations, interests, and outlooks, the OHA Board of Trustees must represent as mueh of that same wide range in its own makup. It must, then represent a true cross-section of the entire Hawaiian community. Too many of one kind of Trustee ean be as detrimental as not enough of one kind. It is a very difficult decision making process. The voter must try and select from all of the various candidates those who will work best as a group in all of the four main areas that OHA will concentrate: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, POLITICAL REHAB1LIT ATION, CULTURAL REBIRTH, and EDUCATION. Hopefully, there will be elements of all of these in the OHA Board. Needed are leaders of community ajfairs and social involvement to maintain the close contact with the community members and their attitudes and views; recognized experts in business and enterprise to analyze, synthesize, and render competent business decisions as we also seize business opportunities to be economically creative; trained educators and professionals todevelop educational programs and job training skills through special projects, programs and the integration of these with more standard education techniques; cultural leaders to aid in the reidentifying of the Hawaiian soul and our heritage in order to enable us to see all of these programs from the Hawaiian viewpoint. We must have a complete spectrum of involved people — farmers, lawyers, culture-oriented leaders, managers, educators, government workers, laborers, fishermen, doctors, athletes, and so many others — but involved with the responsibility of providing the OHA Board of Trustees with diversity so that the community ean identify with and participate with this total effort. Of course, only nine (9) will serve on the Board, but there will be advisory councils and the like where all of these skills ean be used for the good of all Hawaiians. Diversity of skills and unity of purpose — that above all is for WHAT to vote, rather than just for WHOM.