After two months of drama and infighting, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees on Thursday ousted Rowena Akana as chairwoman and elevated Vice Chairwoman Lei Ahu Isa to the top spot on an interim basis.
Ahu Isa cast the deciding vote, switching sides to join a minority faction that has been resisting Akana’s campaign to topple CEO Kamana‘opono Crabbe.
Joining Ahu Isa in the ouster were Robert Lindsey, Dan Ahuna, Peter Apo and Colette Machado, while John Waihee IV, Carmen Hulu Lindsey and Keli‘i Akina abstained.
Akana, the longtime, blunt-talking trustee and former chairwoman who narrowly took over the leadership role again in December, received only one vote: her own.
A new leader will be selected at the next board meeting, according to the organization’s bylaws.
Ahu Isa, a former state legislator and state Board of Education member, said after the meeting that she is not interested in the permanent job.
She said she voted to oust Akana to bring stability to the board and the agency it oversees. She said OHA’s employees have been under extreme stress and calling in sick because of the turmoil.
“I feel bad for our people, our workers here,” she said. “Everything is paralyzed right now.”
Ahu Isa also said she objected to a complaint filed Wednesday by Akana in First Circuit Court on behalf of OHA questioning the validity of Crabbe’s employment contract. She said she didn’t think it was right for Akana to file such a suit unilaterally on behalf of the entire board.
“We can’t have all our beneficiaries’ money going out for lawyers,” she said.
Earlier in the day, a 9 a.m. board meeting scheduled to discuss a proposed forensic, or comprehensive, audit of OHA was deferred for lack of a quorum.
At the beginning of that meeting, Ahuna announced that five of the trustees were boycotting Akana as chairwoman and would not be attending.
“She has caused nothing but turmoil in this organization since being elected as chair,” Ahuna said. “And just within the last 48 hours, she has gone on a spree personally attacking other trustees, and she unilaterally filed a lawsuit (Wednesday) on behalf of OHA that will likely end up being found frivolous.”
The matter of the audit was rescheduled for an airing before the board’s Resource Management Committee on Wednesday.
During Akana’s two months as chairwoman, the fractured board displayed ample squabbling and discord, with trustees walking out in protest on two occasions. From the beginning, Akana went on the offensive, trying to oust Crabbe and proposing a forensic audit to uncover financial malfeasance. Akana also ran into trouble when she blocked testimony regarding the controversy.
Beneficiaries scolded the trustees for their behavior on several occasions, urging them to consider engaging in hooponopono, the Hawaiian practice of reconciliation and forgiveness.
The board majority, led by Akana, voted Jan. 8 to enter negotiations to buy out Crabbe’s three-year, $150,000-a-year contract. But that effort — hampered by the fact six votes were required — may now be in further jeopardy.
Beneficiaries offered testimony Thursday both for and against Akana.
Former trustee Haunani Apoliona urged the board to get back to the work of empowering Native Hawaiians.
“Trustees, you have lost your way over these 57 days,” Apoliona said. “It is imperative that you reorganize so you can get the OHA waa (canoe) back on course and heading in the right direction.”
Trustee Akina, an Akana supporter, said the chairwoman has not been perfect, even by her own admission.
“At the same time, there are some things that I think have been brought to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs from which all beneficiaries have benefited. Whatever we may call the audit, that needs to look deeper, I think we all agree it needs to be done, and I think we need to commend Rowena Akana for the initiative she has taken with respect to getting that audit on the table. The beneficiaries will be served greatly by that,” Akina said.
As for Akana, she appeared resigned to her fate.
She told the board she had dreamed the night before that she was in a heated discussion with Ahu Isa. She said she opened her Bible on Thursday morning to the book of Ezekiel, Chapter 3, where she read about how God told Ezekiel to go down to Israel to speak to the people who are “stiff-necked,” “hard-headed” and “hard-hearted.”
“Whether they listen to you or not is not my concern. They are hard-headed and hard-hearted, so they probably won’t listen. But your job is to say that I sent you anyway to speak,” Akana intoned, and then she added that Ezekiel told the people that if they don’t listen up soon, God will require of them their souls.
“So I say to all of you: I leave it to your conscience. You can reorganize this board however you will. But the Lord is with us today, and he is in this room. So whatever happens happens,” she said.
On Wednesday, Akana filed a complaint in Circuit Court on behalf of OHA that asserts that Crabbe’s employment agreement is void because it was not authorized by the entire nine-member board.
The complaint says the board in June voted to offer a new three-year contract to Crabbe subject to terms being developed by an ad hoc committee. But in November, without board approval, a new contract was executed for the chief executive officer by then-Chairman Robert Lindsey and board counsel Robert Klein, according to the court document.
“A declaratory ruling by the court will serve to terminate the uncertainty and controversy regarding the validity of the Nov. 1, 2016, Employment Agreement,” the complaint says.
