Obama No Hope at Christmas

Dear Editor,        December 21, 2016

Well, that’s just sad. Michelle Obama says, “We have no hope.” I’m guessing the First Lady doesn’t hold her hope in the only place we should. And that isn’t Jay Z and Beyoncé. Here’s a hint: Savior of the world.

Maybe the Obama’s are thinking of joining their Hollywood friends and move to Canada? Funny thing though, I haven’t heard of any of them actually leaving yet.

I think Mrs. Obama would benefit from a visit with Santa. I have it on good authority that Santa works closely with “The man upstairs.” Surely, Old Saint Nick could help Michelle understand the true meaning of hope.

Carrie Moore

Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

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OHA Employee Satisfaction Survey--The Fix is In

Dear Editor,                 December 14, 2016

Not too long ago we at OHA finished taking an “employee satisfaction survey”. Call it whatever you want. They call it the Ka Aha Survey. In a nutshell employees are asked for their opinion of how OHA is doing with its own core values and how OHA can be made better. Since no one upstairs and the Board has never listened to the results, this seems to be the only best way to get the message out.

When we did the last survey we said that the “core values” borderline non-existent. Last year the employees were clear that we have to get rid of people who aren't doing their jobs and we have to fix the ethics of how OHA is run. Today it's even worse. Plenty people quit this year and most of them were good ones. They got tired of dealing with OHA. The problem with the survey is that the information was massaged to make it look better than it really was. But of course, there are people padding it to make (OHA CEO) Kamanao (Crabbe) look better than he really is. People are putting in important information is being added and it gets “scrubbed”. It's all show.

This survey is another chance for Kamanao to grandstand with his cronies and talk about how much work OHA has to do. Everyone is saying him and his cronies have to go. His Research Director won't let anything be known unless it has a good spin to it. His CFO doesn't want any auditors coming around or any outside grant funds coming in because then it would mean that they have to accountable to someone. His Community Engagement Director was given the questions and answers to the interview well before the interview...the fix was in.

Employees getting pay raises because of their connections. Employees getting away with not doing their jobs, and in fact they get invited to meetings with Kamanao to discuss “employee retention issues”.

What will it take to fix this place?

Scott Yamamoto

Honolulu, Oahu

Background: Exodus at OHA