Hawai`i Free Press - By Andrew Walden - July 7, 2019 The State of Hawaii Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) has agreed to fulfill a Hawai’i Free Press Uniform Information Practices Act (UIPA) request for the check registers of four of OHA’s seven known limited liability corporations (LLCs).
This is in addition to three other OHA LLCs covered by a court order.
In the wake of First Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Crabtree’s March 29, 2019 Minute Order directing OHA to comply with a UIPA request for three of its LLCs, Hawai’i Free Press submitted, May 20, 2019, a separate UIPA request for records of the other four.
After six weeks of no response, in a July 2, 2019, letter to the State Office of Information Practices, OHA’s newly appointed interim CEO, Sylvia Hussey, finally acknowledges:
…the status of Hi'ilei Aloha LLC, Ho'okele Pono LLC, and Hi'ipaka LLC, as agencies for UIPA purposes, was…determined and finalized through the written Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (FOFCOL) and Order of the Honorable Jeffrey P. Crabtree, filed on June 25, 2019…. Furthermore, the June 25th final FOFCOL and Order determined that Hi'ilei Aloha LLC, Ho'okele Pono LLC, and Hi'ipaka LLC, as a subsidiary of Hi'ilei Aloha LLC, are each an agency for UIPA purposes of HRS §92F-3. To this end, the court set a 30-day deadline for the production of the check registers and tasked Hi'ilei Aloha LLC, Ho'okele Pono LLC, and Hi'ipaka LLC--not OHA--with complying with the court's order. Now that it is final, the court's ruling informed the application of the UIPA to the subsidiary LLCs covered by the instant Records Request-Ho'okipaipai LLC, Hi'ikualono LLC, Hi'ipoi LLC, and Ho'opakeu LLC….
This implies that Hussey does not intend to appeal Judge Crabtree’s decision.
Initially, neither OHA nor the LLCs responded to the May 20, 2019, request. Likewise they did not respond to a letter from the Office of Information Practices (OIP), June 12, 2019. But a second OIP letter to OHA and the LLCs went out June 25, 2019—just as Judge Crabtree was issuing his Final Order.
OHA’s response comes just two days after the departure of former OHA CEO Kamana’o Crabbe.
After spending tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees to defend an absurd theory that OHA LLCs were not part of the state government and therefore not subject to UIPA, the LLCs demanded pre-payment of $911.08 to cover the alleged cost of producing a copy of the four LLCs check registers “within 30 days upon receipt of payment.” Implying that the records request is not in the public interest, Hi’ilei Aloha COO Mona Bernardino adds, “…we're not able to waive the $60 (public interest) fee….”
The check is in the mail -- but it should be noted that these charges can dissuade many requesters from exercising their rights under UIPA.
Records of the three LLCs covered by Judge Crabtree’s Final Order are due July 25, 2019 at no charge.
Thursday, June 27, 2019
UH-OH - JUDGE ORDERS OHA LLCʻS TO HAND OVER CHECK REGISTERS
By Andrew Walden - Hawai`i Free Press - June 26, 2019 In a June 25, 2019, “Finding of Fact and Conclusions of Law and Order Regarding Both”, Oahu First Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Crabtree has ruled that Limited Liability Corporations (LLCs) owned by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs are subject to Hawai`i’s open records law known as UIPA and must within 30 days hand over "their check registers and income and expense statements."
Confirming an earlier March 29, 2019, ‘Minute Order,’ Judge Crabtree holds that the Limited Liability Corporations (LLCs) are “agencies … owned, operated, and managed by OHA, a state entity…. (T)he requested documents are not exempt from disclosure….”
How much more beneficiary money will OHA insiders waste in this futile effort to keep their own secrets?
Judge Crabtree rules, “The Court will award (attorneys representing Applicant Walden) reasonable attorney fees and costs….” He also points out, “If the Court had imposed the relief requested by (OHA’s LLCs), it is virtually certain we would be back in the same place within months-- the only difference being more attorneys' fees incurred by all, and more time spent by all with no demonstrable benefit.”
Represented by Honolulu attorney Michael Lilly, Hawai`i Free Press editor Andrew Walden, August 28, 2018, applied to the court for an order directing three of OHA’s seven LLCs to release their check registers.
The LLCs were represented in court by Honolulu attorney Anna Elento-Sneed. Sneed’s ES&A law firm has pulled down over $140K in legal fees from OHA starting soon after ES&A’s 2015 foundation. Among her first acts—negotiating OHA CEO Kamanaopono Crabbe’s controversial employment contract signed in August, 2016, with then-Trustees Chair Robert Lindsey. That factoid came out in a long rant by Crabbe recorded in minutes of the OHA BOT January 7, 2017 (p12).
Sneed’s legal strategy featured a 403 page ‘supplemental memo’ and unsuccessful attempts to force the recusal of Judge Crabtree and to block the filing of friend-of-the-court briefs by the Civil Beat Law Center and the Tax Foundation of Hawai`i.
The litigation may have helped Sneed’s bottom line but it didn’t do much to advance her case.
OHA has poured over $34M into its seven LLCs—contradicting attorney Kimberly Greeley, then “represent(ing) Hi`ilei Aloha, LLC, Ho’okele Pono, LLC, and Hi`ipaka LLC” who, in January, 2017, falsely claimed “the State … does not provide any funding for the Companies.”
To find out where the money went, Hawai`i Free Press, in November, 2016, filed a separate open records request for the entire check register for three of the LLCs. After two months of stalling, the LLCs then-attorney Greeley wrote back claiming that the LLCs were private organizations and they—and their assets such as Waimea Valley--were no longer property of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
Since that shocking response from Greely, The LLC check registers have been sought by attorneys for Abigail Kawananakoa, by OHA Trustees, and by an auditing firm hired by OHA to look at the LLCs. None of them have yet succeeded in making the records public. Greeley did not represent the LLCs in court.
Sneed has 30 day to appeal.
Monday, April 29, 2019
THE NOOSE IS TIGHTENING ON OHAʻS LLCS
Honolulu Civil Beat - By Tom Yamachika - April 28, 2019
Our Office Of Hawaiian Affairs formed some limited liability companies a while ago and dropped significant assets into them, including some 1,875 acres in Waimea Valley on O`ahu that were conveyed to Hiipaka LLC in 2007.
The LLCʻs governing documents all say that they are to be managed by individuals holding specified administrative positions at OHA, specifically the CEO, COO and COO.
Over time, however, it became increasingly evident that the LLCs were being run like fiefdoms accountable to no one. The State Auditor’s Report No. 18-03 brought to light concerns about spending irregularities, for example, including finding several occasions in which OHA’s CEO funded sponsorships contrary to board-adopted guidelines and staff recommendations.
The Board of Trustees of OHA engaged the accounting firm CliftonLarsenAllen LLP to conduct a forensic accounting examination “to identify and quantify potential areas of waste, abuse, and fraud … for OHA and its LLCs.”
As of Nov. 30, 2018, however, a memo from one of the OHA trustees observed: “The LLCs have refused to provide any information to CLA. OHA’s failure and the LLCs’ refusal to honor the Board’s will[,] have led to substantial and unwarranted delays. … It is now unclear whether CLA will be able to complete the audit at all.”
Andrew Walden, publisher of Hawaii Free Press, submitted a request to turn over financial records and was told that the LLCs were independent entities to which public records laws didn’t apply.
In the resulting lawsuit, David Laeha, then OHA’s CFO and one of the managers of the LLCs, stated in court papers: “As a matter of practice, the Managers restrict [OHA] access to the information of the [LLCs] so as to reserve managerial powers in the Managers, as contemplated in Respondents’ operating agreements. Managers have explicitly limited OHA’s access to information, and reserved their right to continue to do so.”
But now the noose is closing around the LLCs from several different angles, threatening to end the fiefdom and the shroud of secrecy surrounding it.
On March 29, Circuit Judge Jeffrey Crabtree entered a Minute Order in Walden’s case ruling that the LLCs cannot avoid the public records laws. The final order hasn’t been entered yet, but the direction in which the judge is heading appears clear.
On April 12, the Senate adopted Senate Resolution 151, which urges OHA to complete the financial audit and management review of OHA and its subsidiaries.
House Bill 172, now awaiting final floor votes in the House and Senate, contains a budget proviso appropriating funds for the CLA audit, requiring the auditor to submit its report 20 days before the 2020 legislative session starts, and preventing any of the $6.4 million appropriated in the bill for fiscal year 2020-2021 from being released until the legislature receives a copy of the audit report.
"We The People"
The fiefdom must end. We the People of Hawaii created OHA in the Hawaii Constitution and have specified that it be run by trustees elected by the people.
The lands and the vast sums of money that OHA controls (now in excess of $660 million) are assets belonging to the people of Hawaii. Their use cannot be shielded from accountability (to both the trustees and the general public) simply by tossing them into LLCs. Those who have created or perpetuated this charade must be challenged.
The dealings of the LLCs must be disclosed. If the audit discovers any misappropriation of those assets, appropriate remedial action must be taken. Not only do the beneficiaries of OHA deserve this, all the people of Hawaii deserve this.
Tuesday, April 02, 2019
VICTORY FOR TRANSPARENCY - COURT RULES OHA MUST MAKE ITʻS LLC CHECK LEDGERS PUBLIC
Oahu First Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Crabtree has ruled. Limited Liability Corporations (LLCs) owned and controlled by the State of Hawaii Office of Hawaiian Affairs are subject to the State Uniform Information Practices Act (UIPA). Hawai’i Free Press editor Andrew Walden applied to the court for an order directing three of OHA’s seven LLCs to release their check registers. OHA has poured over $34M into its seven LLCs—contradicting attorney Kimberly Greeley, “represent(ing) Hi’ilei Aloha, LLC, Ho’okele Pono, LLC, and Hi’ipaka LLC” who, in January, 2017, falsely claimed “the State … does not provide any funding for the Companies.” To find out where the money went, Hawai’i Free Press, in November, 2016, filed a separate open records request for the entire check register for three of the LLCs. After two months of stalling, the LLCs then-attorney Greeley wrote back claiming that the LLCs were private organizations and they—and their assets such as Waimea Valley--were no longer property of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Since that shocking response from Greely, The LLC check registers have been sought by attorneys for Abigail Kawananakoa, by OHA Trustees, and by an auditing firm hired by OHA to look at the LLCs. None of them have yet succeeded in making the records public. Greeley did not represent the LLCs in court. After five months of litigation, Judge Crabtree, March 29, 2019, issued a seven page ‘Minute Order’ proclaiming: “…Managers have explicitly limited OHA's access to information, and reserved their right to continue to do so….” “The court finds as a matter of law that each (LLC) is an ‘agency’ for UIPA purposes….” “It is apparently not disputed that OHA is an instrumentality of the State of Hawai’i….” “…the court finds as a matter of law that OHA owns, and has authority and control over the operation and management of the LLC’s operations….” ...Desperate to keep the LLCs secrets, OHA insiders are already planning counter strategies...
US Rep. Tulsi Gabbard was the only member of Hawaii’s delegation to say that Congress should establish such federal recognition, though she didn’t respond to a question about whether she would be putting forward a bill.
“For generations, the Native Hawaiian community has fought for recognition equal to other native peoples across America, the first people of the lands that became our great nation,” said Gabbard in a statement. “Congress should establish federal recognition for Native Hawaiians so we can further enhance opportunity and access to education, job opportunities and health services, prioritize the Hawaiian language, and more.”
Other members of the delegation were more circumspect, stressing that at this juncture any decision about forming an independent government is best left up to Native Hawaiians. The issue of establishing a government- to-government relationship between the U.S. and Native Hawaiians, similar to those established with American Indian tribes, has long been divisive among Native Hawaiians, with some advocating for total independence from the U.S….
The debate came to a resting point of sorts when the U.S. Department of Interior finalized a rule in 2016 that sets out an administrative process for achieving such recognition. It’s up to Native Hawaiians to take the steps necessary to form a government and apply for recognition.
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said that it’s best to leave the issue in front of the Interior Department.
“While I thank the commission for its work and for recognizing the special legal and trust relationship between the Native Hawaiian community and the federal government, it is not necessary for Congress to act to re-establish a government-to-government relationship,” said Schatz by email. “The Department of the Interior has already set up a process for this, and it is up to the Native Hawaiian community to determine the reorganization of their own government.”
U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono and Ed Case, who will be sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives in January, stressed their long-running support for Native Hawaiian self-governance but also said that the path to self-determination needs be determined by the Native Hawaiian community. Case said he supported completion of the process laid out by the Interior Department but would turn to the Hawaiian community for guidance on whether it made sense to introduce a bill in Congress….
Wednesday, December 05, 2018
FREE HAWAI`I TV
THE FREE HAWAI`I BROADCASTING NETWORK "WHERE DOES OHA HIDE ITʻS SECRETS?"
It Could Be Where The Office Of Hawaiian Affairs Hides Its Darkest Secrets.
In Fact, No One Has Ever Seen Inside.
But Now, Thereʻs A Chance Everyone Might Get A Peek.
Watch This To Discover What It Is & What Might Be Revealed.
