Akaka bill finds support from Mainland Hawaiians

By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Hazel Soares doesn't usually get involved in politics, but when the Office of Hawaiian Affairs called her out of the blue to ask her to lobby Congress for a Native Hawaiian federal recognition bill, she sent e-mail to Arizona senators.

"We're proud of who we are," said Soares of Mesa, Ariz., who runs a halau and works for the Arizona Department of Revenue. "It comes from the heart."

In a coordinated push to get the bill passed this year, OHA is contacting Hawaiians on the Mainland and asking them to write or e-mail their senators and representatives. Clyde Namuo, OHA's administrator, said lawmakers will likely be more responsive to appeals from their own constituents rather than correspondence coming just from Hawai'i. The goal is to have 100 letters or e-mail messages at each senator's office when lawmakers return from their break in September.

The federal recognition bill, which would create a process for Hawaiians to form their own sovereign government, has stalled in Congress since 2000. Conservatives have blocked the bill, primarily based on claims that it would validate race-based preferences.

Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i, the bill's main sponsor, said he intends to meet with opponents of the bill in September. Akaka is optimistic that he and Sen. Dan Inouye, D-Hawai'i, can get the votes necessary to overcome procedural roadblocks if Senate leaders agree to bring the bill forward. Other senators have held up the bill through anonymous holds.

"We're targeting our opponents," Akaka said. "We think we can get the 60 votes."

Roger Clegg, general counsel at the Center for Equal Opportunity in Sterling, Va., said the bill is "divisive and unfair." He said lawmakers may be reluctant to attack the bill publicly for fear of antagonizing civil-rights activists.

"The overwhelming majority of Americans don't like preferences based on race and ethnicity," said Clegg, whose group also opposes affirmative action and bilingual education.

OHA trustees, along with members of the Royal Order of Kamehameha and other Hawaiian groups, have scheduled a trip to Washington in mid-September to support the bill. Gov. Linda Lingle has also said she would make another visit here to back the legislation, including a visit with Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who has opposed the bill. The Republican governor testified in favor of the bill before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and met with Bush administration officials in February.

Working mostly from lists of names provided by the Kamehameha Schools Alumni Association, OHA has been doing outreach among the more than 200,000 Hawaiians who live on the Mainland. The bill would let Hawaiians choose whether to participate in a new government, and Hawaiians on the Mainland would be eligible.

"We just get on the phone," said Namuo. "It's called cold-calling."

Soares said the call from OHA persuaded her to organize a meeting on the bill in Arizona attended by more than 50 people. OHA has encouraged Hawaiians in the state to contact Kyl and ask for his support.

"This was a surprise to me," she said of the interest in the legislation among the Hawaiian community in Arizona. "I saw people I've never seen before."

Nani Aki Linder, an author and public speaker in Spokane, Wash., wrote letters to President Bush and several lawmakers after being contacted by OHA. She said Hawaiians should not be asked to give up their sovereign rights as a condition of living in the United States.

"I want them to see it through our eyes," Linder said of politicians. "I believe that Hawaiians need to stand up for themselves."