Editorial: OHA has chance to reform itself

The change in leadership at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs due to the departure of its chief executive officer should signal an opportunity for the entire agency, including the elected board of trustees, to refocus attention on the most crucial issues facing its Native Hawaiian constituency.

Kamana‘opono Crabbe had served as CEO, or “ka pouhana,” for seven years. His departure at month’s end was announced Thursday at an OHA board meeting that showed few signs that the last five of those years had been fairly turbulent.

There had been disputes between the board and Crabbe over policy, as well as criticism from an auditor who had plenty of demerits to hand around OHA offices. And this is with a semiautonomous state agency authorized to manage a trust fund for Native Hawaiian beneficiaries, whose needs run the gamut from housing to education.

There is also the pressing question of enhancing the revenue potential to build the trust, through development of OHA’s waterfront land asset in Kakaako — so teamwork between the CEO and the board will be essential in getting that off the ground.

That primary mission surely has suffered in the last few years, as OHA diverted its gaze to deal with the tumult, and that’s what the new leader will have to correct, in short order.

The goal of the board should be to find an administrator with a clear grasp of the managerial aspects of the job and an ability to take the board’s broad policy directives and execute them efficiently.

And it should be to find one without a political agenda of his or her own — as Crabbe had.

Five years ago, the executive had sent a letter, without the board’s approval, to then-U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in which he asked whether the Hawaiian kingdom still exists as an independent state under international law. The board followed with its own missive to Kerry, rescinding the request from Crabbe.

Further, state Auditor Les Kondo and staff began some digging through OHA records ranging from July 2014 through fiscal 2016, issuing their report in February 2018. It started with a reminder of previous agency failings, including possible misuse of funds by trustees and improper use of staff.

The most recent audit spanned a period of upheaval on the board. It noted clashes over board leadership and criticism of CEO Crabbe’s lack of fiscal controls.

What the auditing team found was that OHA spent nearly twice the amount on discretionary disbursements ($14 million) as on grants that were properly publicized vetted and monitored ($7.7 million). This included questionable items such as retirement benefits for a former trustee ($56,300), political donations, a beneficiary’s rent and the $500,000 cost of an international conservation convention.

None of the above did anything but cement the views of OHA’s critics that the agency was not being run responsibly.

The trustees, who were sharply divided over what to do about Crabbe’s administration, managed to heal some of those divisions through ho‘oponopono, the Native Hawaiian reconciliation process. That appears to have enabled the board to move on without much further wheel-spinning, which is a good thing.

But it won’t necessarily power the agency through the next several months, during which there should be a workable plan developed for monetizing the OHA waterfront property, as well as more intensive work on behalf of beneficiaries suffering from illness, poverty and social challenges.

That means clearer focus and better alignment of the board, paired with leadership from a new CEO. Hawaiians should demand that OHA muster up some real solutions.