Island Voices
Hawaiian land 'stolen' again
By Henry Haalilio Peters
Former trustee of the Bishop Estate and former House speaker
I noticed in a recent editorial that The Advertiser used a quote from me stating that Gov. Cayetano should stop his mentality of stealing from Hawaiians. While my quote was made well over two years ago, it is nonetheless applicable today. Make no mistake; this is "payback" time.
Cayetano now has a board of trustees at Kamehameha Schools, which he and his friends have selected to make sure that this "payback" is pulled off.
The Ka Iwi transaction presents a number of issues, but I will stick to the subject of price and valuation for now. While the idea of preserving the coastline is important, it should not be done at the expense of Native Hawaiians.
Price and valuation have always been an important part of the overall picture. Government should never benefit by downzoning people's property and then moving for condemnation. This is exactly what was done in the case of Ka Iwi.
Originally, the City and County of Honolulu changed the "resort" designation for Ka Iwi to "conservation" without proper consideration. The city was sued for this action, and the court ruled that there was still a permitted economic use in "conservation" for a golf course. The city was mandated to allow the permitting process to take place.
Instead, the state interfered with that process by condemning the property, thereby depriving Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate of the true value for Ka Iwi. Call it "eminent domain" or "taking," but I prefer using the word "stealing."
There are many questions raised by this deal, especially pertaining to the role of the attorney general. As parens patriae, the AG stands over the trustees with a very large hammer with the edict of "do as I say, or else."
The trustees were appointed, not as outlined in Pauahi's will, but under the new Cayetano selection system. As a result, they now owe their allegiance to the state government through the Judiciary. The new system of appointing trustees every year gives the state additional control over the independence of the trustees. If they depart from the state's recommendations, they will not be re-appointed.
The controls that were constructed into Pauahi's will have been broken and the land is being stolen by the very government that should be protecting it. Ka Iwi is the first example of this step. It is time for the public and the Hawaiian community to question why this land is being sold for less than its true value.
The role of the attorney general should be questioned and reviewed by the Legislature in helping to determine whether he is the attorney for all of Hawai'i's people or Cayetano's personal attorney. Clearly, it is fair to question whether this transaction was done at arm's length.
The new board of trustees was described as being "public-spirited" when the fact of the matter is, the trustees do not have the luxury of looking at a transaction or the sale of an asset purely from a "public-spirited" point of view. Bishop Estate is not a public trust but a private estate. Selling 300 acres of oceanfront property on the eastern side of O'ahu for only $12 million is ludicrous. The trustees should not be giving away assets and selling below market value — to do so is a violation of the trustees' fiduciary responsibility.
In either case — whether the shoreline was used for a golf course or for a park — when the air is cleared, the question remains: Were Hawaiians compensated fairly, or we we ripped off again?
At least now we all have a clear definition of what a "sweetheart deal" actually is.
