Hawaiian Home Lands spending questions turn racial

Questions over how to spend $600 million in record funding for Native Hawaiian homes have gotten sidetracked by issues of race after state Sen. Kurt Fevella testified before the Hawaiian Home Lands Commission that Gov. Josh Green’s pick to lead the state’s housing efforts lacks “passion” for Hawaiians.

Green wrote a two-page letter to Senate President Ron Kouchi condemning Fevella’s comments made Friday to the commission about the chief housing officer nominee, who is Hawaiian, calling them multiple violations of Senate rules.

Fevella said Nani Medeiros has “nothing, or no knowledge, about our Hawaiian people. I don’t care if she says she’s Hawaiian. Just remember now, the devil also was an angel. Remember that. So just because you’re Hawaiian doesn’t mean you have the passion for the people.”

Medeiros is descended from Hawaiian ancestry on her father’s side and became emotional and tearful following Fevella’s testimony.

She said that no one has ever questioned what she called her “Hawaiian-ness” or her commitment to Native Hawaiians after volunteering and working for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs beginning when she was a 16-year-old student at ‘Iolani School through her time at the University of Hawaii and into her 30s.

“I found it highly offensive that he brought my race into question, my Hawaiian-ness, and not knowing anything about Hawaiians,” Medeiros told the Honolulu Star-­Advertiser. “He said, ‘Remember, the devil was also an angel. Remember that.’ Who else was he talking about? His point was I had no business being at the table because I’m not qualified and I’m the devil.”

Medeiros said her grandmother Veronica Luli-Kwan Medeiros worked to establish Hawaiian education in public schools.

“My family is very active in Hawaiian issues and our people,” she said. “It’s insane to go after my race.”

Fevella (R, Ocean Pointe-­Iroquois Point-Kapolei) did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Kouchi said in a statement to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, “I am in receipt of a letter from the Governor today regarding a request to meet with myself and Senator Fevella. I have spoken to Senator Fevella and we welcome the opportunity to meet with the Governor on this matter.”

State Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole (D, Kaneohe-­Kailua), who is Hawaiian and serves on the Senate Hawaiian Affairs Committee, told the Star-Advertiser that the issue of Fevella’s comments about Medeiros distracts from legitimate concerns that Keoho­kalole shares over DHHL’s plans — or lack of plans — on how best to spend the $600 million that the Legislature approved last session to help fulfill the state’s promise of housing for Native Hawaiians.

“This is a generational housing proposal,” Keohokalole said. “Do we really have time for this tit-for-tat bickering?”

Earlier this month at a contentious joint hearing of the Senate Ways and Means and Hawaiian Affairs committees, Medeiros joined Ikaika Anderson, Green’s nominee to lead the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, to answer questions from Fevella and other senators about DHHL’s plans to spend the $600 million approved in 2022 to help clear the backlog of home lands beneficiaries.

Fevella then testified Friday before the commission chaired by Anderson, saying Anderson “lied” five times during testimony to the senators about issues including whether the commission had approved amendments to its plans on how to spend the $600 million.

In his letter to the Senate president, Green — a former state senator — wrote that Fevella’s comments about Medeiros violated multiple Senate rules governing behavior.

Green said Fevella “equated Ms. Medeiros with the devil, falsely suggested that Ms. Medeiros is not really Hawaiian, and stated that Ms. Medeiros has ‘no knowledge about her own ethnicity.’”

Green wrote that Fevella’s comments violated the Senate’s Rule 81, which requires state senators to “conduct themselves in a respectful manner … acting at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity of the Senate”; treat the public “with respect and courtesy, regardless of … race, ethnicity”; and “refrain from showing bias or prejudice, including but not limited to bias or prejudice based on … race, ethnicity.”

“The statements and behavior of Senator Fevella regarding Ms. Medeiros violate all of these rules — fundamental tenets that constitute the bare minimum expected not only of a senator, but of anyone in society,” Green wrote. “Senator Fevella should be held accountable for his behavior to restore expectations that people can come before the Senate and be received with decency, decorum, and aloha.”

Green concluded that he “respectfully requests that appropriate action be taken on this matter.”

House Speaker Scott Saiki on Tuesday announced that the House has created a working group to oversee DHHL’s plans to use the $600 million.

The group consists of Chair Rep. Troy Hashimoto (D, Wailuku-Waikapu) and Reps. David Tarnas (D, Hawi-­Waimea-Waikoloa), Daniel Holt (D, Sand Island-­Iwilei-Chinatown), Scott Y. Nishi­moto (D, Moiliili-McCully), Mahina Poepoe (D, Molokai-­Lanai-Hana) and Gene Ward (Hawaii Kai-­Kalama Valley).

“We look forward to working closely with DHHL in providing oversight of the $600 million appropriated by the Legislature,” Hashimoto said in a statement. “This is a rare opportunity to make major investments in Native Hawaiian housing, and it is critical that funds are expeditiously and responsibly expended. This has the potential, if successful, to jumpstart and allow us to make major strides in the reduction of the long-standing waitlist.”