Oh, honest Americans, as Christians hear me for my downtrodden people! Their form of government is as dear to them as yours is as precious to you. Quite warmly as you love your country, so they love theirs.

—Queen Lili'uokalani, Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen, 1898

The state Office of Hawaiian Affairs has enlisted larger-than-life retired U.S. Sen. Ben Night-horse Campbell to help its efforts to push the Akaka bill through Congress.

Campbell, 75, is the son of a Northern Cheyenne Indian, and was the first American Indian to serve in the U.S. Senate when he represented Colorado from 1992 to 2004. For a time, he chaired the Indian Affairs Committee, the only American Indian to do so.

OHA administrator Clyde Namu'o said OHA's strategy is to try to get the Akaka bill out of Congress and into the hands of President Bush before the end of the year. Failure to do so would send the matter back to the drawing board.
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Namu'o said Campbell is being retained under a subcontract with Patton Boggs, the Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm that OHA has paid more than $2 million to help win support for the Akaka bill.

Namu'o noted that Campbell is a longtime Republican. "There were certain Republican senators who Patton Boggs felt former Sen. Campbell could be helpful in discussing the positive aspects of the Akaka bill," Namu'o said.
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Namu'o said OHA is still aiming to get enough senators to pass a cloture petition on the Akaka bill, which would lead the way to a Senate floor vote on the issue before the end of the year.
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The Bush administration has indicated opposition to the bill, and the president may veto it if it passes.
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If the debate over the Akaka bill were to drag into next year, the dynamics of the discussion would change immensely with the changing landscape of Washington. Not only would there be a new Congress, there would be a new president. Democrat Barack Obama supports the bill, and Republican John McCain opposes it.

"The legal cause for the restoration of the kingdom is air-tight," said Francis Boyle, professor of international law at the University of Illinois, who has been advising Hawaiian independence groups since 1992.
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"Native Hawaiians operate in accordance with the Aloha spirit, which is similar to Mahatma Gandhi's Satyagraha force, and I take the position that if Gandhi can throw the mighty British Empire out of India with Satyagraha, Native Hawaiians can throw the mighty American empire out of Hawaii with Aloha."

Hawaiian rights activist Dennis Pu'uhonua "Bumpy" Kanahele is gaining support for a proposed Native Hawaiian constitutional convention aimed at unifying the historically fractured Hawaiian independence movement.

A Native Hawaiian convention would be separate from a ballot issue in November asking voters whe-ther they want a convention to amend the state Constitution.

A Native Hawaiian concon was supported yesterday by several members of Native Hawaiian organizations, including the Kanaka Maoli Tribunal Komike, the Kaua'i-based Koani Foundation and Hui Pu, an umbrella organization of various independence organizations.

The Hawaiian Kingdom Government, which is occupying the mauka lawn of 'Iolani Palace and "conducting business" there as its first step toward reclaiming Hawai'i from the U.S., also supports the intent of a constitutional convention, said spokes-man Orrin Kupau.

Kanahele said a petition drive to gather supporters for a Native Hawaiian concon has drawn more than 20,000 signatures.

Kanahele, leader of the Independent and Sovereign Nation State of Hawaii (Nation of Hawaii), said the constitutional convention would create a "free, fair and impartial process" for sovereignty advocates to discuss how they can collectively move forward.

HONOLULU (AP) — A U.S. District Court judge is deciding whether to once again dismiss a lawsuit filed against the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

Judge Susan Oki Mollway heard arguments yesterday in the case that pits OHA against five Native Hawaiians.

The five are seeking to stop OHA from funding programs for those who have less than 50 percent Hawaiian blood.

They say the state agency breached the public land trust by paying for programs for all Hawaiians, regardless of their blood quantum.

Mollway threw out the case in 2006. But it was reinstated last August by a federal appeals court.

On Friday, Mollway issued an "inclination" statement, indicating she was leaning toward siding with OHA and its motion to dismiss the case.

OHA's attorney said a Native Hawaiian government established by the pending Akaka Bill will have to define its membership.

"That entity would have its rules and its rules will probably have a blood quantum," Klein said.
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Even if most Hawaiians oppose a blood quantum they might be forced to accept it because under the Akaka Bill, the U.S. Department of interior must accept the Hawaiian entity's rules and it might demand a blood quantum similar to most Native American tribes.

Taro farmers in East Maui say their summer crop is being ruined by a lack of water and the failure of a state commission to maintain stream flows to their patches.

Through a system of ditches that had its beginnings in 1876, East Maui Irrigation supplies 126 billion gallons of water per year to its sister firm, Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co., and 3 billion gallons to Upcountry Maui residents and farmers.

Native Hawaiian taro farmers have argued that the ditches are on ceded lands, a portion of which belongs to them under the Statehood Act, yet they have not received the benefits from the lands.

Alan Murakami, an attorney for the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., said Alexander & Baldwin is profiting from the agreement with the state and pays only one-fifth of 1 cent per 1,000 gallons for East Maui water, while most Maui farmers pay more than 35 cents per 1,000 gallons.

The state Commission on Water Resource Management is currently reviewing stream flow standards of five areas in East Maui, including Honopou, Hanehoi, Piinaau, Waiokamilo and Wailuanui. The comment deadline is tomorrow.

Twenty-nine states have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to accept an appeal by Hawaii Attorney General Mark Bennett, who wants the high court to overturn a recent state court decision that prevents Hawaii from selling or transferring ceded lands.
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In that case, the state justices ruled that the 1993 Congressional Apology Resolution prohibits the state from selling, exchanging or transferring any of the more than 1.2 million acres of ceded land until it reaches a settlement with native Hawaiians.

Urging the U.S. justices to hear the case, Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna wrote for his and the other states that the Hawaii Supreme Court "misconstrued" the Apology Resolution.

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs said it will channel $90 million to the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands in a historic partnership to deliver up to 500 residential lots to Native Hawaiians across the state.

The agreement, unanimously approved by OHA's board yesterday, will about double the production of lots on which Hawaiians can begin to build homes in the next 12 to 18 months.

The Army Corps of Engineers is in the early stages of creating a self-imposed mandate to formally seek out the input of any and all Native Hawaiian groups before it makes decisions on aquatic and watershed permits that could significantly impact the islands and the ocean.

During a scheduled five-hour forum Saturday at Maui Community College, Corps Regulatory Program Manager Farley Watanabe said that the federal government is in the process of revising its regulations for who it must consult during the complicated and often long permitting process.

And the Army Corps wants Native Hawaiian organizations — from nonprofits and state agencies to ohanas, lineal descendants and individuals — to be included in that process for the first time, Watanabe said.