MACHADO OUSTED IN OHA RACE - PRO TRANSPARENCY CANDIDATE ELECTED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hawai`i Public Radio - November 5, 2020

Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee Collette Machado was voted out of office Tuesday, after more than 24 years on the job. 

This could mean some big changes, not only for Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi – the two islands she represents – but for the overall direction of the OHA Board of Trustees. 

Hawaiʻi voters chose political newcomer and former beauty queen Luana Alapa to replace Machado. 

Alapa says she was ecstatic when she heard the news and she hasn’t been able to sleep since. "Being a brand new candidate and going up against an incumbent and sitting chairwoman – that was huge. So we knew what we were up against but I think the theme for people was change," Alapa said. 

She campaigned for greater transparency and accountability in OHA spending. 

A 2019 audit of OHA found as much as $7.8 million in potentially fraudulent, wasteful, or abusive spending. 

"A lot of negative fallout has happened because things aren’t, you know, transparent. This is a public state agency, by the way, it’s not a Hawaiian entity. It’s a state agency that serves Hawaiian people. We have a right to understand where the monies are going." 

Alapa defeated Machado by nearly 39,000 votes. 

Healani Sonoda-Pale, an analyst with political action committee Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻ, says she isnʻt surprised. "What it tells us is what’s more concerning for kanaka maoli this year is how well OHA manages the finances and because of the audit that have been scathing...it has affected this election. At a time when we are in an economic crunch, money matters," she said.

 HOW DUMB DO THEY THINK YOU ARE -

$2.6 MILLION OHA BENEFICIARY DOLLARS DISAPPEAR & NOW THEY WANT YOUR VOTE

OHA DOESNʻT NEED A WATCHDOG?

 

GIVE THIS CROOK THE HOOK

 COMPARE & BEWARE

OHA DOESNʻT NEED A WATCHDOG?

 

GIVE THIS CROOK THE HOOK

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"HEREʻS WHO TO VOTE FOR AT OHA - #3"

Itʻs Another Big One.

Hereʻs Your Golden Opportunity To Elect Someone With Leadership & Business Skills.

Itʻs Also Your Chance To Send Someone Packing Whoʻs Been There Way Too Long.

Watch This & Youʻll See Why Itʻs Time To Discard The Old Guard.

Then Share This Video Today With Your Family & Everyone You Know.

WHY A WATCHDOG IS NEEDED AT THE OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS

 

 PULLING TEETH AT OHA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Honolulu Civil Beat - By Tom Yamachika - Oct. 18, 2020

Imagine that you wake up one day to an awful toothache, and you march into your dentist’s office. 

But then your dentist says, “Well, you tell me your tooth hurts, but can you prove that you have a cavity?” 

“Um … no,” you reply. 

“Well, then, get out! You’ve just wasted my time. I’ll be sure to send today’s bill to you personally, not your dental insurer, for this outrage.” 

Similar logic (if you could even call it logic) is being used at our Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and that argument has become an issue in the upcoming election for OHA trustees. 

In September 2018, the OHA Board of Trustees, at the urging of At-Large Trustee Keli‘i Akina, engaged a national accounting firm to conduct a contract and disbursement review, looking for indicators of fraud, waste, and abuse. The accounting firm’s report was issued on Dec. 4 at a cost of $500,000. 

The report and a summary of the report put together by Trustee Akina’s staff highlighted a number of “red flags,” or potential problems. Here are some examples. 

Various places in the report, including at pages 70-72, discuss a $2.6 million grant made to Akamai Foundation to conduct a Native Hawaiian self-governance election, including independently monitoring the election and funding self-governance activities after the election was concluded. The money was supposed to be paid out in five tranches. 

‘Waste Of $500,000’ 

But Akamai Foundation asked that all funds be paid out at once, before the nonprofit incurred a large portion of the costs, and OHA did so (in violation of its internal policies). The election was cancelled, leaving the auditors wondering whether some of the funds disbursed were really needed or actually spent for the requested purposes. 

Page 121 of the report discusses a contract with Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning. OHA paid $349,527 for consulting services. Neither the procurement documents nor any deliverables could be found. But of course the money went out the door. 

 On the day the report was issued, a statement of OHA Chair of the Board Colette Machado and Chair of the Committee on Resource Management Dan Ahuna said, “While this report observed indicators of potential fraud, waste or abuse, it did not identify actual instances of fraud, waste or abuse.” 

Thus, on a recent PBS “Insights” candidates’ forum, Keoni Souza, who is running for OHA Trustee-At-Large against Akina, said, “Do I think there was a waste of $500,000? Absolutely.” 

Chair Machado then doubled down by saying, “Keli‘i, you tried to find the smoking gun. And there was none. It’s on you now.” 

Has your tooth stopped hurting yet?

Just to be clear: CliftonLarsonAllen, the accounting firm issuing the report, is not the police, is not the FBI, is not law enforcement. An accounting firm can’t arrest people, throw them in jail, or otherwise find that they have committed illegal activity.

We have previously urged OHA to turn the report over to law enforcement. Apparently, that hasn’t happened because, well, there is no smoking gun so why trouble law enforcement?

Ouch! Give us the Novocain!

 

YOU CAN TRUST US -

WE DONʻT NEED TO BE WATCHED

OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS - VOTE 2020

MAKE A NOTE BEFORE YOU VOTE

 

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"WHO ARE OHAʻS REAL MISSPENDERS?"

Right Before The Election OHA Trustee Rowena Akanaʻs Been Called To Testify About Misspending Funds.

It Should Come As No Surprise This Is One Big Smokescreen.

Certain Others At OHA Want You To Watch The Left Hand So You Wonʻt See What The Right Hand Has Been Doing.

Watch This To See Who Those Certain Others Are & What They Donʻt Want You To Know.

Then Share This Video Today With Your Family & Everyone You Know.

BUYING PROTECTION

 

LOOK WHO SPENT PROTECTION $$$
ARE YOU SURPRISED?

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"HOW 5+1 = 0"

How Can Five Plus One Equal Zero?

Itʻs Simple If Weʻre Talking About The Office Of Hawaiian Affairs.

It Explains How Trustees Can Be Kept In The Dark About Fraud & Corruption.

Watch This To See Why Weʻre Not Talking Fuzzy Math, But Rather About Accusations Of Wrong-Doing At OHA That Do Add Up.

Then Share This Video Today With Your Family & Everyone You Know.

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"IS THE OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS A BROKEN TRUST?"

Where Have We Seen This Before?

Why Does OHAʻs CEO & The “Old Guard” Trustees Keep Going Down The Same Road?

Donʻt They Know Or Even Care That This Will End Badly?

Watch Our Report & Decide For Yourself If OHA Is Destined To End Up Like Another Famous Broken Trust In Hawai`i.

Then Share This Video Today With Your Family & Everyone You Know.

"SHAME ON YOU!" - AN OPEN LETTER TO THE OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS TRUSTEES

TO: OHA Chair Colette Machado
TO: All OHA Trustees

RE: Your Fiduciary Obligations to the Beneficiaries, all Beneficiaries, not just those with merit--inside dealing and special self-interest appeal

I want to first and foremost mahalo all of the Trustees that showed up for the Board of Trustees Meeting on March 22, 2018 at 10:00 am.

Most importantly, I want extend my deepest and sincerely aloha to the Trustees that voted to Terminate CEO Kamana`opono Crabbe's contract effective immediately.

At the same time, I want to express my disappointment to the Trustees that voted to keep CEO Kamana`opono Crabbe's contract active and alive. It's you that I believe are the complicit Trustees that supported the CEO with his self-interest dealings (non-competitive grants each over $25,000, CEO sponsorships for $25,000 or less--which some of you may or may not have directly or indirectly benefited, procurement contracts, etc.)

It's the complicit Trustees that know that if the CEO is terminated, the 170 employees of OHA that live paycheck to paycheck--paying mortgage, car payments, children's school tuition & fees, etc--and who cannot currently afford to be a part of the movement to bring Truth and Transparency to OHA-- would feel safe to speak about what they know and have seen at OHA.

It's only by keeping the CEO in a position of power, with the power to terminate any employee that speaks and share the information they have about corruption, that you are also therefore protected as well.

Shame on you for allowing this type of environment to continue to exist at OHA, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

Shame on you for also keeping the incompetent and complicit Board Counsel Robert Klein. 

It's under his poor counsel that you never settled with Trustee Akana years ago, but instead paid $800,000 for a written apology letter. 

It's under his poor counsel that you sued the Office of Information Practices, and lost. 

It's under his poor counsel that the CEO's contract was renewed in November 2016. 

It's under his poor counsel that the F.B.I. is in OHA's hale.

Shame on you!

E hana kokou to the pono Trustees. E hana kakou.

Germaine Meyers
OHA Beneficiary for Beneficiary Advocacy and Empowerment and Nanakuli Hawaiian Homestead Lessee

WHAT ARE THE NEXT STEPS AT OHA?

Honolulu Civil Beat - March 21, 2018 - By Samuel Wilder King II

On March 8, and again on March 20, it was reported that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustees are now being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

This comes on the tail of the audit of OHA that showed extensive potential breaches of the Trustees’ fiduciary duties to spend OHA’s funds properly for the benefit of the OHA beneficiaries (as previously discussed here and here). Ideally, CEO Kamana’opono Crabbe and all the Trustees, except Trustee Keli’i Akina, would resign so that a new slate of trustees could be elected with a new CEO. 

At the very least, CEO Crabbe should be replaced, Trustee Colette Machado should resign as chairwoman, and Trustee Akina should be made the chairman by the end of the week.

Trustee Akina had the fiscal discipline to avoid using his allowance account in questionable ways, has pushed relentlessly for reform at OHA since before he was elected a trustee, and has been the driving force behind OHA’s upcoming independent audit that will cover OHA’s limited liability companies. He has earned the opportunity to lead OHA.

If such a lucky course of events comes to pass, what should OHA do with a refreshed administration? Here is a non-exhaustive list of suggestions -

First, OHA should get its fiscal house in order. 

All non-budgeted discretionary grants should be eliminated. This includes the Kulia initiatives and the CEO sponsorships. 

The trustee allowances should be changed to a reimbursement procedure instead of the lump-sum system that currently exists. OHA should only be spending budgeted funds on programs properly vetted through a transparent procedure. OHA should stop spending down its fiscal reserve.

To the extent some sort of flexible grant program really would be useful for improving the condition of all native Hawaiians, a budget for such a program should be created.

If the money for that program is not disbursed, the funds should be recycled into OHA’s reserve or investment funds. The program’s budget should never be exceeded.

Generate Revenue

Second, OHA should shift focus to revenue generation.   

Kaka`ako Makai should be turned into a masterpiece of live/work/play development.

OHA should strongly consider selling the parcel it owns near Restaurant Row to the city for the city’s new sewer facility, unless some higher and better use is found in the near term. Those funds from the sale can then be invested in the development of Kaka`ako Makai. 

OHA should then seek to maximize revenue from Kaka`ako Makai. That will probably mean building a series of high-rise residential towers. OHA should agree to surrounded the towers with street level commercial activity.

OHA should seek to coordinate such development with Kamehameha Schools and the state, which own nearby parcels, to create an integrated master planned community. 

This will generate hundreds of millions of dollars in condo sales and lease rent for OHA, creating a wealth of funds for expanded programs. It will also revitalize a decrepit, underutilized, polluted, brownfield blight zone and generate millions of dollars in property tax revenue for the city and conveyance tax revenue for the state.

The plan should include public access to the surf breaks and parking for the same. 

Such development will be exactly aligned with the current transit-oriented development and densification of Kaka`ako. Other revenue generating opportunities include geothermal facilities on Hawai`i and the telescope facilities on Haleakala and Mauna Kea. Regardless of whether the current or future telescope facilities should stay or should be built, they should be generating revenue for the state and OHA while they are there.

Third, OHA should investigate how its funds can serve as a catalyst for improving native Hawaiian median incomes, homeownership, and health and education outcomes.

This will likely lead to an increase in early childhood education programs, home building and housing support, more business loans, health programs targeting problem areas identified by OHA, such as obesity and substance abuse, and legal services and advice to avoid incarceration. 

Instead of providing one-off payments direct from trustee allowance accounts to buy wrapping paper for gifts (page 64 of the audit), suing one another, or funding federal recognition and independence initiatives, OHA should develop an overwhelming obsession with programs that will improve the daily lives of Native Hawaiians.