Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 11, Number 10, 1 October 1994 — Attorney General report clears up vote on OHA administrator [ARTICLE]

Attorney General report clears up vote on OHA administrator

by Deborah L. Ward The state Attorney General's office has concluded its investigation of the process used in January by the OHA Board of Trustees to select a new OHA administrator. The investigative report was released by the Attorney General's office on September 14 and clears OHA chairman Clayton Hee of allegations that trustee ballots were misreported by Hee and his staff. Following the administrator selection, OHA trustees Moanike'ala Akaka, Rowena Akana and Sam Kealoha requested an investigation into the validity of the election process, whieh took plaee on January 7. Accompanying this request letter dated January 12 was an affidavit signed by five OHA trustees, Akana, Akaka, Kealoha, Moses Keale and Kamaki Kanahele, attesting to the fact that they had not voted for Carpenter, but had instead voted for another individual. A simple majority of five votes from the nine trustees is sufficient, by board pro-

cedure, to elect a new administrator. According to the report, this investigation request required examination by the Attorney General's office of the following issues: whether any of the five trustees made a false statement when they claimed to have voted for another candidate; and if such a false statement was made, whether such conduct could be prosecuted as a criminal offense. According to the report, OHA trustee Kamaki Kanahele did vote for administrator Dante Carpenter, confirming there were 5 votes for Carpenter and 4 for the other candidate. The report based this conclusion on a match of fingerprints on the ballots. Kanahele's fingerprints were found on only three of the 27 ballots used by the trustees, and the one from the third round of voting was a vote for Carpenter. Kanahele has maintained he voted for the other candidate. At a press conference held Sept. 14, the same day the report was released, chairman Hee said, "People ean now focus on the good work done by OHA."