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.
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!
…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.
