by Andrew Walden

At Friday's Grassroot Institute Gubernatorial forum, candidates were asked about their views on the Kanaiolowalu Roll.  Here are some of their comments:

Mufi Hannemann: "I'm not convinced, especially with what happened with the Department of Interior hearings, that there is consensus.... Secondly what I saw from that is that those who are non-Hawaiian need to understand the issue.... I don't see anything wrong with something so complex, so important to the future of the Hawaiian community that we need to take two steps back now...."

Duke Aiona: "Kanaiolowalu...was something that had a good intention to it. But if we're going to have a pathway to native Hawaiian governance, it's going to have to be through consensus. Its going to have to be through shared visions. Its going to have to be in the whole Hawaiian community. Kanaiolowalu had a register of about 120,000 people. That is only about 35% of Hawaiians that live here...."

These latest comments from Aiona and Hannemann dovetail with earlier comments by Democratic gubernatorial nominee David Ige who was not present at Friday's event.    Covering a Democratic candidate forum at the Japanese Cultural Center, the July 25, 2014 Star-Advertiser reported: "Ige said the U.S. Department of the Interior's hearings in Hawaii on sovereignty are premature, since Hawaiians have not yet reached consensus about how to proceed."  KHON quoted Ige: "Sovereignty is something that I think cannot be rushed. It’s something that will impact each and every resident in our community.”

The complete video of Aiona and Hannemann's comments may be viewed here:  VIDEO: Standing Room Only at Grassroot Gubernatorial Forum

Discussion of Kanaiolowalu begins at the 59:00 mark.

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LINK: Abercrombie Letter to DoI