Tag Archives: Hawaii

Hawaii

Grassroot Institute Releases Annual Report

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I confess to a great dependence on Annual Reports.  When you’re seeking information on grants and granting agencies, sometimes few things can tell you as much about an organization as what they choose to tell you–which is why I am such an avid reader of OHA’s reports.  Well, what’s good for the goose and such.  Much as OHA looks with satisfaction at its own projects, so do we at Grassroot.  And our aims aren’t as different as you might think.  We both want to improve Hawaii and the situation of all Hawaiians.  It’s just how we interpret that and carry it out that makes all the difference.  And also budget.  I’m willing to bet that OHA spends more on office supplies than we do on . . . well, pretty much anything.  But I digress.  The point today is to let you know about our newly-released Annual Report.

Consider it the curse of being active–by the time you finish describing all the accomplishments and activities of your previous year, you’re already well into a busy and productive new year.  And yet, it would be a shame not to draw attention to the recently published Grassroot Institute of Hawaii Annual Report for 2010.  We’re proud of what we’ve done to champion liberty and accountability in Hawaii over 2010, and we’re continuing that work now (and with your help and support) into the future.

From the Pork Report to our transparency efforts to our investigation into Special Funds, Grassroot Hawaii is doing work that no one else in the Islands has.  Please, check out our Annual Report and considerbecoming a member of the Grassroot Institute today! Joining is as little as $25-$50 and marks you as one of the few and proud defenders of liberty in Hawaii.  (Click here to go to our Join/Donation page.)

 

Akaka Bill

Victory for Akaka Bill at the State Level?

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There is a tendency among state legislatures with short annual sessions, to pass a glut of questionable bills right before they adjourn for the year.  This is similar to the human instinct to try to camouflage embarrassing or problematic revelations by mixing them with many other questionable items in the hopes that they will somehow escape notice.   In other words, this is why, when people go the store to buy laxatives, they throw in a bottle of liquor and a box of hygiene products at the same time.  It doesn’t stand out so much that way.

Yes, I did just compare the Legislature to a man making an embarrassing pharmacy purchase.  And I’ll stand by that.  Because it works.  Think about it–what have you been hearing in the last few days about the Hawaii Legislature?  Lots of debate about various controversial tax and finance issues, some criticism over the failure to adequately deal with some pressing state issues, and a general clamor over the frantic last days.  It’s easy to lose track of individual items in that noisy mix.  Even when they’re as significant as the next step towards the creation of a Native Hawaiian government.

In case you missed it, the state House and Senate both approved the measure that would begin the creation of a roll of “qualified Native Hawaiians” interested in participating in the formation of a Native Hawaiian government.  This is (and has always been) a transparent effort to push for Congressional action on the Akaka Bill.  After all, if you can perpetuate the idea that the Bill has the full support of the State, which has already initiated the beginning steps towards tribal organization, then you’ve made the passage through Congress a little easier.  (In case you’re wondering, a five-person commission will have the responsibility of creating the roll of “qualified Native Hawaiians.”)

What is this truly the beginning of?  That’s a little harder to determine without the help of a crystal ball.  It’s interesting to note that despite all of the money that has been spent in trying to push for the Akaka Bill (in contrast to the woefully underfunded opposition), the majority of Hawaii’s citizens still harbor serious reservations about the Bill.  And one can’t help but wonder whether this newly created commission and the effort to produce a roll of “qualified Native Hawaiians” will not be the panacea that Akaka Bill supporters hope for.  It’s possible that the Native Hawaiian community might have serious questions about how one is determined to be “qualified” to participate.  It’s possible (probable even) that we’ll see a lawsuit or two about it.  And who knows how the process will affect the thinking of the rest of Hawaii’s citizens on the questions of reorganization itself?  The only thing that we can know for sure is that the push to pass the Akaka Bill will continue to gain steam, and those who hope for a public debate on the issue need to continue to remain active and involved.

Akaka Bill

The Myth of Government “Help”

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It should be of interest to those affected by the Akaka Bill (in other words, pretty much everyone in Hawaii) to know that Native Hawaiians are not the only ones encountering controversy over the question of federal recognition of tribal status.  Columnist and investigative reporter John Stossel writes of the Lumbees of North Carolina, who (despite their lack of federal recognition as a tribe) have been doing very well:

Lumbees own their homes and succeed in business. They include real estate developer Jim Thomas, who used to own the Sacramento Kings, and Jack Lowery, who helped start the Cracker Barrel Restaurants. Lumbees started the first Indian-owned bank, which now has 12 branches.

The Lumbees’ wealth is not from casino money.

“We don’t have any casinos. We have 12 banks,” says Ben Chavis, another successful Lumbee businessman. He also points out that Robeson County looks different from most Indian reservations.

“There’s mansions. They look like English manors. I can take you to one neighborhood where my people are from and show you nicer homes than the whole Sioux reservation.”

In other words, the Lumbees are a living contradiction to the notion that federal recognition (and its accompanying financial “help”) are necessary to–or even capable of creating–the success of a Native American tribe.  It is an interesting lesson to those who see federal aid and recognition as the way to greater success for Native Hawaiians.  Especially when one considers the millions of dollars in federal grants that already go to help Native Hawaiians (and which you can view in our research wiki here) . . . not to mention the millions in federal contracting preferences that Native Hawaiian businesses enjoy.  In fact, as Stossel illustrates, the “help” of the federal government is a double-edged sword, that is as likely to eat away at tribal culture and foster dependency as anything else:

The government has made most Indian tribes wards of the state. Government manages their land, provides their health care, and pays for housing and child care. Twenty different departments and agencies have special “native American” programs. The result? Indians have the highest poverty rate, nearly 25 percent, and the lowest life expectancy of any group in America. Sixty-six percent are born to single mothers.

It goes without saying that Native Americans have endured injustice at the hands of the federal government, and that this very injustice is behind the demand for aid and recognition that have led to the current state of affairs.  A similar motivation lies behind many of the demands for Native Hawaiian recognition.  But this may also be a case of being careful about what you wish for.  As Stossel points out, there are many among the Lumbees who are opposed to federal money for the Lumbees, arguing that it will end the independence that has helped them prosper:

Tribal governments and the Bureau of Indian Affairs manage most Indian land. Indians compete to serve on tribal councils because they can give out the government’s money. Instead of seeking to become entrepreneurs, members of tribes aspire to become bureaucrats.

. . . .

Because a government trust controls most Indian property, individuals rarely build nice homes or businesses. “No individual on the reservation owns the land. So they can’t develop it,” Chavis added. “Look at my tribe. We have title and deeds to our land. That’s the secret. I raise cattle. I can do what I want to because it’s my private property.”

Supporters of the Akaka Bill would be well-advised to consider all the ramifications of inviting the government bureaucrats to become administrators of the culture and future of Native Hawaiians.  After all, as Ronald Reagan once quipped, the scariest phrase in the English language is, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”

Akaka Bill, Guest Commentary, Hawaii, Hawaii Legislature, Sovereignty

A Lack of Resolution

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Over on Hawaii Reporter (which I swear doesn’t do anything to get all these mentions here except produce a broader and more fearless variety of opinions than the vast majority of other Hawaii news sources), Ken Conklin has an interesting take on the most recent effort of the Hawaii Legislature to rewrite history.  The article is worth reading in its entirety (not least of all for the impassioned discussion of the ultimate effect of these endless muddled legislative exercises in pandering), but here are the highlights:

House Concurrent Resolution 107 (HCR107) in the Hawaii legislature would establish “a joint legislative investigating committee to investigate the status of two executive agreements entered into in 1893 between United States President Grover Cleveland and Queen Liliuokalani of the Hawaiian Kingdom, called the Liliuokalani assignment and the agreement of restoration.”

The investigating committee would be empowered to “Issue subpoenas requiring the attendance and testimony of the witnesses and subpoenas duces tecum requiring the production of books, documents, records, papers, or other evidence in any matter pending before the joint investigating committee; … Administer oaths and affirmations to witnesses at hearings of the joint investigating committee; Report or certify instances of contempt as provided in section 21—14, Hawaii Revised Statutes …”

….

The purpose of such an investigation is not merely to do academic research on an obscure historical question from 118 years ago. The purposes are to claim that the U.S. had an obligation to restore Liliuokalani to the throne; and to claim that the obligation of the President of the United States continues to this day to restore the Kingdom of Hawaii to its former status as an independent nation.

Throughout my nineteen years in Hawaii I have seen the legislature repeatedly pass bills and resolutions encouraging some sort of race-based Hawaiian political entity, or sovereign independence. Year after year: Let’s pay for an election of delegates to a Native Hawaiian convention, and years of their travel expenses for meetings, so they can choose the tribal concept or write a constitution for an independent nation; let’s pass a resolution in 2002 asking the United Nations to investigate the legitimacy of Hawaii’s admission to statehood in 1959; let’s support the Akaka bill in Congress; let’s proclaim April 30 of every year a permanent holiday called “Hawaiian Restoration Day”; let’s create a state-recognized tribe with a state-only version of the Akaka bill; let’s transfer $200 Million in land or money to OHA; etc. etc. ad nauseum.

Why? All these legislative actions have accomplished is to stir up racial animosity, feelings of entitlement, etc. Hopes are raised for some people who want land and money from the rest of us, and then those hopes come crashing down. Over and over again. Remember the Aloha Airlines plane that had a huge hole ripped out of its side in mid-flight, due to metal fatigue caused by too many takeoffs and landings? That’s what resolutions like this are doing to all Hawaii’s people, and to ethnic Hawaiians in particular.

NB: Be sure to read the whole article to see the main points of Mr. Conklin’s testimony against the Resolution.

Akaka Bill, Economy, Grants, OHA, Sovereignty

Stately Spending

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If you know your way around this site, you know that there are two ways of perusing the many, many grants we’ve recorded.  Many.  Many, many, many.  It’s overwhelming actually.  And overwhelming is kind of the point.  No matter where you stand on the issue of Native Hawaiian sovereignty or the Akaka Bill, if you’ve checked out the grants here, you cannot fairly say that Native Hawaiians receive no support or help.  There may be any number of cultural or socio-economic issues at play in the question of how Native Hawaiians fare in society.  But if you’re looking for a reason to support the Akaka Bill, the claim that Native Hawaiians get no government resources is laughable in light of the evidence here.

Anyway, for those who just want an overview, there’s the quick list that can be viewed here.  And for those who want to dig a little deeper, there’s the wiki/database of grants that can be viewed here.  (And as a reminder: if you have any information or feedback to share on any grant, be sure to email us at 4hawaiiansonly@gmail.com so that we can add that information to the wiki.  Frequent or especially helpful researchers are given their own log-ins to update at will.)

Recently, we added some information to our quick grant list that was previously only available in the wiki–you can now see at a glance which grants come from federal agencies and which from state departments.  It’s no surprise to see that the federal portion of the grants on the list so far is slightly higher–a total of approximately $265,666,125 spent since fiscal year 2007.  As for approximate state spending, it comes to a more modest (but still considerable) $56,201,112 for the same period of time.  That’s more than the annual budget for a few different state departments.  For a state that struggles with budget and deficit problems, that’s almost real money.

Hawaii

Fact Check on the Journal

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The Wall Street Journal has a nice little feature piece about the effort to restore the furnishings in Iolani Palace.  As is so often the case with features, it’s heavy on the neat-o factor, and maybe not-so-rigorous on the historical fact checking.  As a general rule, I like the Journal.  And I like the whole historical restoration thing.  I once spent an entire Saturday glued to an Antiques Roadshow marathon.  So I get the whole Hawaiian-heirlooms-might-be-in-your-attic approach of the piece.  But I also can’t let them slide on historical revisionism, and unfortunately, there’s a bit of inaccuracy to the piece, primarily this paragraph:

But much of the 19th-century palace’s custom-made furniture, oil paintings and other treasures disappeared after January 1893, when a small band of businessmen overthrew the monarchy.

The people of Hawaii need to take a little more pride in and responsibility for the democratic revolt that led to the end of the monarchy.  Monarchies are lovely romantic things when you get the leisure of looking back on them, but most of us prefer the liberty and rights that flow from our representative democracy.  Anyway, thanks to Ken Conklin, whose addition to the comments section clears up this slight inaccuracy:

Contrary to the article’s description, the Hawaiian revolution of 1893 was not done merely by a group of American businessmen.  About 1500 men had met in the Armory a couple days earlier to rally for the revolution, and the largest contingent among them were Portuguese.  Half of the members of the Committee of Safety, who led the revolution, were native-born subjects of the Kingdom.

It is certainly true that there was vandalism at the Palace, which is typical of every revolution worldwide.  And later the revolutionary Provisional Government held an auction and sold off many of the treasures from the Palace — but the Palace and its contents were the property of the government both before and after the revolution, so the government had every right to sell them.  The ex-queen’s private home a couple blocks away was never vandalized, and none of her private property was stolen.

Economy, Taxes

Weekend Updates

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It has been a great couple of weeks for our friends at Hawaii Reporter, who even scored a Drudge mention and a Tonight Show one-liner out of their coverage of the Obama family vacation (see below).  So how about a quick round-up of things that cost us money?

John Carroll has an examination of the Jones Act and how it damages the Hawaii economy.  You know, the Jones Act debate isn’t exactly glamorous.  Most people can’t even get past the fact that it’s about maritime law before getting a tad sleepy.  But if you live in Hawaii, this is important.  Ever wondered why you practically need to a second mortgage in order to buy a box of cereal?  The Jones Act is the answer.  A small group of politicians and activists have been trying for a long time to get a Hawaii exemption to this federal law, and it’s time that their reforms got a fair hearing.

And then there’s the analysis of how the current Administration’s policies are going to mean higher gas prices.  Not good news for those in the Islands–where even when things aren’t bad, mainlanders blanch at our average per-gallon cost.  And no, the answer is not light rail.  Higher fuel prices trickle down, and it’s about more than just what you pay at the pump.  You pay those higher gas prices when you buy bus tickets, toilet paper, and just about anything else.

And finally, a lighter note.  Here’s the Tonight Show monologue with the mention of the Obama vacation cost.

Akaka Bill

Thank You, National Review

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The omnibus spending spending bill died last week for lack of support. Senator Inouye had inserted into it a mandate for a study to figure out how to make a federally recognized Indian tribe out of persons who have native Hawaiian blood.

Commenting on that insert, National Review online editorialized: “ That’s a reference to the notorious Akaka Bill, an odious piece of segregationist legislation that would establish a race-based government on the Hawaiian archipelago”. That is a great description. Thank you National Review. It now appears that the proposed Bill is road kill. Now if we could only get some prudent management of the grant activity revealed on this website. That’s the mission, please help.

Transparency

A Little Sunshine

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Government transparency is one of those things that everyone says they support, but not many people give much thought to.  But when you think about it, it’s pretty powerful stuff.  Without transparency, a necessary check on government is gone.  The media does its best, but with limited resources, a need to turn a profit, and other important demands on their time, they aren’t able to be a constant check on the tendency of government to conceal information from the public.

Yes, “conceal.”  Some people might find that melodramatic, but you’d be surprised to learn how often government agencies try to avoid even the simplest and most banal disclosures.  And when you think about it, there’s a certain logic to that.  The public tends to get a little touchy about how their tax dollars are spent, and that’s something that can be worrying to a certain kind of bureaucrat.  Rather than discuss why they felt the need to spend hundreds of dollars on catering, they’d rather people just didn’t know about it.

And that’s why it’s important that we support efforts like Grassroot Institute’s newest transparency project: Hawaii Sunshine.  The newly launched website highlights all state expenditures and state salaries–it’s a treasure trove of information for any Hawaii citizen who is looking to really learn about where our tax dollars go.  Even better, the site encourages people to participate in the fight for greater government transparency by giving people the ability to submit “Pork Alerts” with comments and information on specific expenditures on the site.  And a forum lets visitors continue the discussion amongst themselves.

In truth, the Hawaii Sunshine site is a great toy.  I just spent 20 minutes searching for different kinds of vendors and seeing how much money was being spent on restaurant meals, dry cleaners, taxi rides, and so on.  So check it out, and (if you’re like me) try your best not to shout “I want my money back!” at your computer screen.

Akaka Bill, Guest Commentary

Why Would a Native Hawaiian Oppose the Akaka Bill?

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Actually, there are plenty of good reasons for Native Hawaiians to oppose the Akaka Bill, from believing that it’s not good for Hawaii to mistrusting how it handles the creation of the new Hawaiian government.  But the reasons don’t have to be specific to the bill itself.  There is also a principled approach that questions how it affects the Hawaiian spirit of ohana.  Consider this explanation given to Grassroot Institute President Richard Rowland by a Native Hawaiian who is concerned that the Akaka Bill forces Native Hawaiians to turn their backs on spouses, in-laws, and friends:

In addition, they would also be turning their backs on many others with whom they might have long and close ties that bind such as:  hanai children or parents, aunties and uncle, classmates, teachers, students, coaches, business partners, co-workers, faithful employees, squadron mates,  church parishioners, canoe club members, swim club members, fellow professionals and on and on.

The Akaka bill allows only those with at least one ancestor indigenous to the Hawaiian islands to participate in the process of creating the new government; but it leaves it up to the new Native Hawaiian governing entity to decide the criteria for its own citizenship.  Since the Akaka bill is intended to protect the existing race-based entitlements, it is a given that the new government will not have an Equal Protection clause.  That means the new government will be free to discriminate on the basis of race, even against some of its own citizens.

Hard to see why any Hawaiian would want to join.