Name on ballot:

Lei (Leina’ala) Ahu Isa

Running for:

OHA At-Large Trustee

Political party:

No answer submitted

Campaign website:

LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Resume, etc.

Current occupation:

OHA Trustee At Large, Broker, Adjunct Professor

Age:

69

Previous job history:

Professor Hawaii Pacific University, Principal Broker, Partner CPA Firm, Administrative Officer Apprenticeship, Small Business Management Programs, UHM College of Business.

Previous elected office, if any:

State Representative, State Board of Education

Please describe your qualifications to represent the people of Hawaii.

Fiscal Accounting, Statistics, Administrative Officer UHM Geophysics, UHM Small Bus Mgmt Director, VP American Movers, etc.

What will be your top priority if elected?

Aloha Mai Kakou!
As OHA approaches a culmination in 2022 of 43 years of effort and accomplishments, it is very important to review just what we have been trying to achieve and how we have been going about it. But if we have broken the rules, done what is not pono, and have taken shortcuts, then we have only ourselves to blame. For kupunas, this is one of the most important times in our lives. It is almost as if you have been climbing a mountain for many years, and now the “peak” is in sight.
The areas where OHA has prepared carefully will now become tremendously productive. Our opportunities are at a “peak” for achievement and for additional responsibility and power. If OHA tries to avoid its increased responsibilities, we might run the risk of losing everything, even in the areas where we have prepared well and have taken responsibility. Completing our Financial Sustainability Plan gives us the ability to work on particularly exacting and detailed creative projects, from education, health and culture. The degree of stability achieved at this time will greatly help our beneficiaries have a solid core of assets into perpetuity.
OHA will survive only if we are able to satisfy the “REAL” needs of our people. We must be particularly conscious of this now. The more “REAL” our objectives are, the more OHA can help our beneficiaries by making benevolent choices. We need to share with everyone the new insights we are working on, and become a proselytizer for new ideas as we try to break others out of their rigid patterns of thinking. OHA should be striving to improve conditions of all Native Hawaiians around us…to use our influence to help everyone concerned to grow with us.
Patience and perseverance carried us through! The Legislature finally approved the $64M! We can now accomplish a great deal by transferring our energies to productive areas. So Please ask yourself this question when voting for a TRUSTEE of a Trust Fund: Would you choose this person to be the “fiduciary” for your money? Ethical, moral values play a part in your choice?
Now that we worked so hard to obtain this, it’s like Aesop’s fable of “Who will help me Make the Bread?
“ Not I,” said the animals in the barnyard when asked to help.
“OK, Who will now help me EAT the fresh bread that I so painstakingly Baked?,” said Mother Hen.
“ME!” yelled all the animals who were waiting to jump in to feast on the spoils.($64M)
NO, said the Mother Hen, “ only my little chicks and I will Eat it for only we worked hard for it!”
Malama Pono, Trustee Lei Ahu Isa

What is one specific change you would like to see in OHA’s operations and what would you do to make it happen?

See Above Ans

What should OHA do to help alleviate homelessness and increase home ownership among Native Hawaiians?

See Above Ans

What reforms, if any, would you propose to make OHA more transparent to the public?

See Above Ans

Do you support or oppose the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on the Big Island and what should OHA’s role be in the process?

Legislature took care of this with better management of Mauna Kea.

What is the most pressing need for the people you seek to represent and what can the Office of Hawaiian Affairs do to address that need?


See Above Ans

Is there anything more that you would like voters to know about you?

My Question to them: Who would you choose to be the “Fiduciary” to handle your Trust funds? Plz Know the meaning of Fiduciary… a higher “kuleana” duty than that of a Senator or State Representative, or Governor!