Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 24, Number 2, 1 February 2007 — The view from inside [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The view from inside

Iand I'm sure most of you, have been a keen observer of the * Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) from its genesis. As I predicted from the beginning, many of the trustees elected were strong-willed, dedicated activists convinced that OHA's purpose was to provide a sounding board to promote their own ideas on how to provide for the "betterment of conditions" of "Hawaiians" and "native Hawaiians." The result was a prolonged period of disputatious, almost pugilistic, board meetings and publicly aired personal challenges. Proposals and programs were subjected to prolonged meetings and sometimes unnecessarily probing questioning. There was a distinct laek of civility that was not always confined to fellow board members. Many witnesses were subjected to what I consider abusive questioning that mirrored overly aggressive questioning that I experienced in my years as a legislator. Perhaps those combative OHA board meetings contributed to the legislative auditor's early observation that the OHA trustees behaved more like poliīicians than trustees. Somehow OHA weathered those rough baptismal years and several good programs were initiated and continue today. Nevertheless, I remain dismayed by the manner in whieh the trustees conducted OHA's business at that time. The constant bickering, swearing, threats of bodily harm and bullying among the trustees caused everyone to despair that they would get anything done and Hawaiians to be embarrassed. And it was all shown on prime time

TV news! When I announced my intention to run for the OHA board, many of my friends and acquaintances declared me insane, or at least "touched in the head." They could not understand why I would want to get into the OHA board battles. However, I informed them that in recent years I have noted a less belligerent atmosphere within OHA. I have noted that the present trustees' discussions of board matters are far less volcanic than they used to be. In fact, in 1992 I told OHA Chair Haunani Apoliona that I noted a marked improvement in the conduct of OHA's business. Now that I am a member of the OHA board, I wish to inform you that my impression of improved relations among the trustees has proven true. I am pleased to report my observation that the present trustees are conscientious proponents of Hawaiian interests and are less interested in advancing their own egos. The individual arguments, proposals and positions of the individual trustees have been presented courteously and without personal attack on any fellow trustee. That is not to say that the arguments and propositions have not been passionate. Indeed they are and have been. And that is as it should be. However, those passions have not included denigration of the contrary-minded. I have also noted that there still remain personal as well as philosophieal differences among and between some of the trustees. Nevertheless, I am quite confident that those differences will remain based on principles and on the merits of a particular proposal and will not degenerate into personal battles. I sense a personal commitment to prevent egos from interfering with a civil discussion of issues. I personally intend to contribute to civil board discussion and to avoid denigrating comments or remarks directed at fellow trustees or their arguments. E

LEO 'ELELE ■ TRUSTEE MESSAGES

Walter M. Heen TrustEE, O'ahu