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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Tuesday, June 5, 2001

New attorney takes over OHA case

By Yasmin Anwar
Advertiser Staff Writer

The Honolulu lawyer who championed the right of non-Hawaiians to run for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs has replaced Big Island lawyer John Goemans as the local attorney in a high-profile challenge to government financed Hawaiians-only entitlements.

Patrick Hanifin, a Harvard Law School graduate who was born in Hawai'i, filed his first papers in federal court yesterday as the new local counsel for longtime Mo'ili'ili resident Patrick Barrett.

Barrett, 53, who is disabled and is from California, is challenging the state constitutional amendment that created OHA, adopted the federal Hawaiian Home Lands program and laid the foundation for native gathering rights on private property.

Hanifin, 46, has amended Barrett's original complaint to emphasize that his client wants such programs opened to Hawai'i residents of all races, not shut down.

Meanwhile, Goemans, who initiated Big Island cattle rancher Harold "Freddy" Rice's successful challenge to OHA's Hawaiians-only elections, said he is happy to turn over the job to Hanifin while he pursues other challenges to Hawaiians-only programs.

Hanifin was co-counsel in Arakaki vs. State of Hawai'i, in which 13 Hawai'i residents successfully sued the state last year for the right of non-Hawaiians to run for the OHA board in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's invalidation of OHA's Hawaiians-only balloting.

Barrett was a plaintiff in the Arakaki case before making his solo challenge to Article XII of the Hawaii Constitution. He has applied for an OHA loan and Hawaiian Home Lands lease.

Attorneys for OHA and the state Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations are pushing for the case to be dismissed on grounds that Barrett failed to demonstrate injury because he did not complete his applications, and thus was not denied benefits.

A hearing on the legal standing question is set for July 2.