A SECRET DEAL MADE? - IS OHA TRUSTEE KELI`I AKINA THE ONLY SMART & HONEST ONE?
“The time has come for OHA trustees to take a stand and demonstrate whether they are for truth and accountability in OHA’s finances. The trustees must now act decisively and hold the CEO accountable for improper financial management that has come to light.” - OHA Trustee Keli`i Akina
From FreeHawaii.Blogspot.com, March 23, 2018
Sources say it increasingly appears the rest of the Office Of Hawaiian Affairs Trustees made a deal yesterday.
These same sources say the trustees are merely going to "suspend" OHA CEO Kamana`o Crabbe so he has to stay out of the office but still gets full pay and benefits. The suspension will be for an indefinite time.The "old guard" trustees see it as a win win - Kamana`o Crabbe gets money ($150,000) to hire an attorney to defend himself and he is not terminated so it does not impact his work record.
Word leaking out is that Lisa Victor will be the new OHA CEO. An interim plan will be unveiled in a few months to hire another "interim" CEO.
No action will be taken on any of the other executive staffers, who are complicit in financial wrongdoing. They will all remain on payroll. The very trustees who claimed they wanted change are now saying we have to keep Kamana`o Crabbe because we do not have the votes to dismiss him!
But their real reason and concern is votes they hope to get in this election year from those who have received all the trust funds that are being misappropriated by OHAʻs CEO and the Kana`iolowalu gang.
Editor's Note: Lisa Victor is a 'manager' of several OHA LLCs
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OHA Trustees Buffaloed by Crabbe Vacation Ploy
SA: …Meeting in closed executive session, the nine- member board discussed all aspects of Crabbe’s performance and attempted voting but ultimately did not reach a conclusion about the CEO, the board’s attorney, Robert Klein, told reporters afterward.
Crabbe, the agency’s top staffer for six years, was on vacation and not at the meeting to defend himself.
“The discussion will continue when the CEO comes back to work,” said Klein, a former Hawaii Supreme Court justice.
“We want more information and will bring it back to the table for more discussion,” Chairwoman Colette Machado added.
After the meeting, Oahu at-large trustee Keli‘i Akina noted that he is already on record calling for serious action to deal with the financial issues that emerged from a scathing state audit issued last month that documented unrestrained discretionary spending.
“I think they need to take decisive action,” Akina said of his fellow trustees. “I’m pleased that robust conversation has started, but I’m urging my fellow trustees to have courage and exercise their fiduciary duty.”
The trustees rejected a proposal to replace Crabbe last year, but there may be more urgency now after they learned the Federal Bureau of Investigation has joined the state Attorney General Department in an investigation of OHA….
read … OHA trustees to investigate CEO
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"SHAME ON YOU!" - AN OPEN LETTER TO THE OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS TRUSTEES
TO: OHA Chair Colette Machado
TO: All OHA Trustees
RE: Your Fiduciary Obligations to the Beneficiaries, all Beneficiaries, not just those with merit--inside dealing and special self-interest appeal
March 24, 2018
I want to first and foremost mahalo all of the Trustees that showed up for the Board of Trustees Meeting on March 22, 2018 at 10:00 am.
Most importantly, I want extend my deepest and sincerely aloha to the Trustees that voted to Terminate CEO Kamana`opono Crabbe's contract effective immediately.
At the same time, I want to express my disappointment to the Trustees that voted to keep CEO Kamana`opono Crabbe's contract active and alive. It's you that I believe are the complicit Trustees that supported the CEO with his self-interest dealings (non-competitive grants each over $25,000, CEO sponsorships for $25,000 or less--which some of you may or may not have directly or indirectly benefited, procurement contracts, etc.)
It's the complicit Trustees that know that if the CEO is terminated, the 170 employees of OHA that live paycheck to paycheck--paying mortgage, car payments, children's school tuition & fees, etc--and who cannot currently afford to be a part of the movement to bring Truth and Transparency to OHA--would feel safe to speak about what they know and have seen at OHA.
It's only by keeping the CEO in a position of power, with the power to terminate any employee that speaks and share the information they have about corruption, that you are also therefore protected as well.
Shame on you for allowing this type of environment to continue to exist at OHA, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
Shame on you for also keeping the incompetent and complicit Board Counsel Robert Klein.
It's under his poor counsel that you never settled with Trustee Akana years ago, but instead paid $800,000 for a written apology letter.
It's under his poor counsel that you sued the Office of Information Practices, and lost.
It's under his poor counsel that the CEO's contract was renewed in November 2016.
It's under his poor counsel that the F.B.I. is in OHA's hale.Shame on you!
E hana kokou to the pono Trustees. E hana kakou.
Germaine Meyers
OHA Beneficiary for Beneficiary Advocacy and Empowerment and Nanakuli Hawaiian Homestead Lessee
More Coverage:
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OHA Trustees to Continue Discussions on CEO Contract, Performance
Trustee Keli‘i Akina Repeats Call for Removal of CEO
News release from Office of Trustee Keli’i Akina, PhD March 22, 2018
HONOLULU, HI- The Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees today met in executive session to discuss the employment contract of CEO Kamana‘opono Crabbe.
Following the meeting, which was not open to the public, Board attorney Robert Klein stated that while the Board did not come to any conclusion today, discussions will continue regarding all aspects of the performance of the CEO.
“While I am grateful the Board is engaging in serious discussions about the CEO, I want to restate my challenge to fellow trustees that we act decisively,” Trustee Akina said. “I am on record calling for the removal of the CEO in light of revelations as to OHA’s financial management. I urge all trustees to take seriously our fiduciary duty to protect the trust for the sake of our beneficiaries.”
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Statement from OHA Trustee Akina on Upcoming Discussion of CEO Contract
News Release from Office of Trustee Keli’i Akina, PhD March 21, 2018
HONOLULU, HI- On March 22, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees is scheduled to discuss the contract of CEO Kamana‘opono Crabbe in a closed executive session. This discussion takes place as OHA has been under intense scrutiny over its finances, particularly by the State Auditor. The CEO is the sole employee of the board and is responsible for carrying out the board's directives.
Trustee Keli‘i Akina says, "The time has come for OHA trustees to take a stand and demonstrate whether they are for truth and accountability in OHA's finances. The trustees must now act decisively and hold the CEO accountable for improper financial management that has come to light."
Trustee Akina is on record as having called for the replacement of the current CEO in the wake of the recent scathing report on OHA's finances by the state auditor.
(Trustee Akina’s previous statement: “Failure to act decisively to remove the CEO, considering the overwhelming evidence presented by the state Auditor, would be a dereliction of our fiduciary duty as Trustees to protect the Native Hawaiian trust fund.”)
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Audio: Waihee Defends Crabbe
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