Facing the likelihood of a protracted legal fight, Na‘i Aupuni said Tuesday it will skip its contentious Native Hawaiian election and go directly to a four-week convention in February with all 196 candidates being offered seats as delegates.
The move, according to the nonprofit, allows it to remove the restraint of a U.S. Supreme Court injunction and move forward in finding a path to Native Hawaiian self-determination.
“We anticipated that this path would have twists and turns and some significant obstacles, but we are committed to proceeding to the aha where this long-overdue conversation can take place,” Na‘i Aupuni President Kuhio Asam said Tuesday at a downtown Honolulu news conference.
While supporters praised the action as a reasonable way of responding to the challenges ahead, critics blasted the move.
“It’s embarrassing,” said Walter Ritte, the Molokai activist and former convention candidate who ended up renouncing the election in October. “This thing has been one disaster after another.”
Ritte and others contend that Na‘i Aupuni is part of a campaign to turn Native Hawaiians into a federally recognized American Indian tribe before President Barack Obama leaves office in early 2017. This end-run around the court, he said, falls in line with that thinking.
“They keep rushing this thing,” he said.
Tuesday’s move by Na‘i Aupuni follows a Dec. 2 injunction issued by the U.S. Supreme Court blocking the Hawaiian election while the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals considers a lawsuit challenging it.
“Clearly our lawsuit (Akina vs. State of Hawaii) has brought an end to a discriminatory election,” Keli‘i Akina, president and CEO of Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, said in a statement. “Now, in a desperate move to bypass their failed election and ignore their voter base, Na‘i Aupuni is undercutting its own efforts to even look like a democratic process.”
Akina added that his organization’s legal team is reviewing all options.
Asam said the Na‘i Aupuni board decided that canceling the election would be the best way to bring about the long-awaited discussion about self-governance, considering the potential multiyear delay it faces from a lawsuit that accuses the election of being race-based, among other things.
Asam said Election-America, the contractor hired to run the election, has been told to stop taking ballots, to seal any ballots already received and to prevent anyone from counting the votes.
Na‘i Aupuni attorney William Meheula said the ballots will never be counted, which will make the Akina litigation moot. He said the group will file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
Asam said the Mediation Center of the Pacific has been hired to help lead the convention’s initial “instruction week” and assist with organizing the delegates.
During the first week delegates will see presentations on constitution building, federal Indian law, international law regarding de-occupation, decolonization, the rights of indigenous people, constitutional issues that relate to Native Hawaiian self-governance, the ceded-lands claim, background on Hawaiian homelands, kingdom law and constitutions already drafted by sovereignty groups.
“After that, everything that happens at the aha is up to the delegates,” he said. “Na’i Aupuni will have no input in their discussions or their decisions.”
The candidates were informed of the new plan Tuesday morning. An email asks that they confirm by Dec. 22 whether they intend to accept the terms and attend the convention, which will be held in Kailua starting Feb. 1.
With the number of delegates increasing nearly fivefold, the convention’s length was cut in half Tuesday — from eight weeks to four.
In the email sent to the candidates Tuesday, Na‘i Aupuni said it could offer only 20 days of per diem of $50 per day for Oahu candidates, $200 per day for neighbor island candidates and $250 per day for candidates from outside of Hawaii. Breakfast and lunch will be provided, but no financial assistance is available for transportation, lodging and other expenses.
Oahu candidate Keoni Kuoha said that given the challenges facing Na‘i Aupuni, canceling the election seemed like a reasonable action to move the process along. And more candidates at the convention, he said, will offer greater variety of viewpoints to discuss the next steps.
Kuoha is part of a group of 19 candidates — called Na Makalehua — who had pledged to participate in the election.
He disagreed there’s a conspiracy to marginalize Hawaiians by turning them into an Indian tribe.
“Because the final (ratification) vote comes back to the people, there’s no way to control the process,” Kuoha said.
University of Hawaii professor Davianna McGregor, an Oahu candidate, said she thought it was a mistake to cancel the election and limit the convention.
“It would have been wise to ask for input from the candidates before taking a such a drastic step,” she said. “(The Na‘i Aupuni board is) not alone — they need to realize there’s a lot of creative thinkers out there who could help see them through the process.”
McGregor said she’s disappointed the ballots won’t be counted because it took courage for some to vote in the face of opposition.
What’s more, she said, she’s afraid there won’t be enough time to build a nation in 20 days.
Williamson Chang, a UH law professor and an “independence” candidate, meaning he wants Hawaii to be separate from the U.S., expressed disappointment with Tuesday’s announcement.
In an email, Chang said allowing all 196 candidates as delegates will result in overpowering the independence delegates. He said the majority will have its way in creating a government that meets the conditions for a federally recognized tribe.
“The clear message of this action by Na‘i Aupuni is to establish federal recognition at any cost, even if it requires violating previously settled terms and conditions of the process, ‘stacking’ the convention with their own representatives and completely ignoring” constitutional violations.
As for the Supreme Court, Chang said canceling the election is an ultimate “in-your-face” insult, defying the power of the high court under Article III of the U.S. Constitution and fraudulently avoiding the effect of its injunction.
Former Hawaii Attorney General Michael A. Lilly, an attorney for the plaintiffs suing Na‘i Aupuni, said the state has wasted millions on the process, from bankrolling the collection of names for the Native Hawaiian Roll to staging an election that no longer exists.
“And now after wasting $6.5 million of taxpayer funds, they decide to use delegates that no one elected to hold their aha. Who anointed them? This entire process lacks accountability and credibility,” Lilly said.
Clarence “Ku” Ching, a former Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee who has been campaigning as an independence candidate on Hawaii island, said he’s not quite sure what to make of the new Na‘i Aupuni process, only that he’s ready to participate.
“It’s going to be interesting,” he said. “I hope it doesn’t turn out to be a circus, but anything is possible at this point. It should be the best show in town at least for a while.”
