Mun named temporary OHA administrator

Advertiser Staff

Amid growing uncertainty over who will run the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, OHA Chairwoman Haunani Apoliona has promoted deputy administrator Ronald Mun as the agency's top manager on a "temporary acting" basis.

During a stormy meeting last week OHA trustees chose by a 5-2 vote courts official Clyde Namu'o for the $85,000 job of OHA administrato, but he has yet to decide whether to accept the offer. And Namu'o's boss, courts administrative director Michael Broderick, announced yesterday that he will move to the private sector, making Namu'o a possible candidate to fill Broderick's position.

Broderick said he had been hired as executive director of the Hawai'i Justice Foundation on June 22, a day after Namu'o was chosen for the OHA job. Broderick has been courts administrator for five years, and has agreed to remain with the courts until Sept. 28.

Mun, who has served as Honolulu city corporation counsel and as a deputy prosecutor, will be in charge of OHA as of tomorrow, when administrator Randall Ogata's contract expires, according to a memo Apoliona sent to staffers and other trustees.

The trustees had been scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to appoint Mun as acting OHA administrator, but the meeting was canceled because of lack of a quorum. In her memo, Apoliona said prior legal advice made it clear she could temporarily appoint Mun to run the $300 million state agency, which pays for programs meant to assist people of Hawaiian ancestry.

Signing a statement in support of Apoliona's decision were the four other trustees who voted June 21 to offer the permanent job to Namu'o: Donald Cataluna, Oswald Stender, Colette Machado and John Waihe'e IV. Trustees Linda Dela Cruz and Charles Ota had voted against Namu'o, while Rowena Akana and Clayton Hee were delayed and missed the vote.