Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 24, Number 12, 1 December 2007 — No Akaka Bill recommendation by civil rights panel [ARTICLE]

No Akaka Bill recommendation by civil rights panel

By the Puhlie lnfurmatiun ūffice Acontroversial loeal advisory panel to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights decided against taking a new position on the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2007, leaving intact the panel's support of the Akaka Bill. The Hawaii State Advisory Committee voted 8-6 not to make a recommendation to the civil rights coimnission on the measure that is pending before Congress. Voting to table further debate and deliberation on the Akaka Bill were HSAC members Amy

Agbayani, Robert Ahn, Daphne E. Barbee-Wooten, Jennifer Benck, Linda Colburn, Miehelle Nalani Fujimori, Wayne Tanna and Jackie Young. Voting to eonhnue debate were members H. William Burgess, Vernon Char, Rubellite Johnson, James Kuroiwa, Thomas MacDonald and Paul Sullivan. One member, Kheng See Ang, was absent from last month's proceedings at the Hihon Hawaiian Village. Critics of the panel have argued that the eonmūhee was "stacked" with Akaka Bill opponents who are seeking to dismantle Hawaiian programs. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs

was pleased with the coimnittee's vote taken during a meeting at the Hihon Hawaiian Village in Waiklkl. "As we have maintained for months, this Hawai'i connnittee was being positioned into making a decision through manipulation by majority members of the USCCR in Washington, D.C., and their staff director," said Haunani Apoliona, chairperson of the Board of Trustees for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. HSAC opponents of the Akaka Bill argued that the panel should have taken. a position. "We now owe those folks some accountability," member Paul

Sullivan said. OHA reviewed the 2006 USCCR decision, and documented its many flaws. OHA also reviewed the HSAC, whose members are appointed by the USCCR, and the loeal hearings that were held. All that is contained in a report titled: Correcting the Record: The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and Justice for Native Hawaiians. A copy of the OHA report is available on the OHA website at www.oha.org. OHA alerted the puhlie about irregularities in the USCCR selection process after none of the nine names OHA submitted were selectedforplacementonHSAC. Ē