Editorial
OHA losing sight of crucial business

The battle over which egocentric personality reigns supreme is not the chief order of business over at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, but the general public can be forgiven for supposing it is.

That's about all they ever hear about. The leadership of the nine-member board has changed six times since 1997.

Actually, OHA faces momentous and crucial issues affecting not only its duty to help Hawaiian citizens, but its very existence.

OHA faces a very serious challenge to its constitutionality. It also appears, through serious misjudgment, to have lost, or at least delayed for a number of years, hundreds of millions of dollars in so-called ceded land revenues when it turned down a settlement offered by the state.

In March, OHA was the subject of a blistering audit issued by state Auditor Marion Higa, citing management, financial and organizational problems.

Indeed, it has become clear that if OHA cannot get its act together in a way that satisfies constituents and state and federal law, it won't matter whether it is constitutional or not. In fact, part of the argument in defense of OHA in the constitutional lawsuits is that it performs work that no one else is equipped to accomplish.

Higa's audit made that particular defense ring somewhat hollow.

In the face of all of these daunting challenges and problems, one would think OHA would circle its wagons and begin to work together.

No such luck.

OHA was created by an overwhelmingly positive vote by Hawai'i's people in 1978. Given its board's performance over the years, such a vote would most likely not be repeated now.