"Ehu" Cardwell...another key liar about OHA

Its been nice to see some folks begin reading the blog recently, and commenting -- although Ikaika doesn't seem to want to stand behind his statements now that he has made them. But I stand by my correct observation -- he called an article "good" that had serious factual inaccuracies, which calls into question his judgement.

But enough of Ikaika -- for now, cause there is certainly a lot more.   

As I said, I have come to the conclusion that while certainly many people are not the biggest fans of OHA, there is probably no more than a half dozen or so web-savvy folks who spread lies, half truths, and rumors and cause huge damage. My job is to fisk them. And I will, because they have been self righteously continuing their damaging lies for too long.

Let's get to one of the worst, "Ehu Kekahu Cardwell." I am sure that this mainland haole's given name is not Ehu Kekahu, but no matter. If he has decided to move here to "find himself" or be some new kind of missionary that's certainly ok.  Hawaiians are used to 200 years of haoles coming here as the "great white hope" to save us; clearly this fellow thinks he is at the vanguard of some great independent future for Hawaii and he might get a beach house due to his service to the kingdom.  Whatever.  

What is not ok is his regular lies and distortions.

There is rarely a freehawaii post that doesn't have some distortion in it. Let's look at a recent video post on April 16. 

Here are a few of the lies in a video only around a minute long!

1. "Ehu" says on the video that OHA is setting up LLC's using "ceded lands."  False.  The only lands controlled by one LLC is Waimea, not ceded.

2. "OHA has formed three LLC's, very similar to what happened to the Alaska natives in 1971."  Interesting, Cardwell...but false.  In ANCSA, Congress with little native involvement set

up the native corps; with OHA elected Hawaiians set them LLC's -- not as a substitute for government as ANCSA did, but as a way to protect the trust from liability.  Now ANCSA was a very bad deal, and maybe as you say Ms. Danner helped craft it; but there is no relationship between the LLCs and ANCSA.

3. So when he compares the two, and he says "this is the plan OHA has for you" -- that is an outright lie.  Admit it and apologize.  You have no evidence whatsoever; and a recent Ka Wai Ola article by Haunani Apoliona details why OHA created the LLCs.

4.  "Why did the Trustees exclude you, the beneficiaries, from input in this plan in the first place."  Lie, again.  A common tactic (this is also another liar, Andre Perez's, favorite line) is to accuse OHA of excluding beneficiary comment.  AT EVERY SINGLE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES, beneficiaries can comment.  On LLC's, the Akaka Bill, on anything being decided or anything else.  And the comments are listened to.  Most beneficiaries do not come; but that doesn't mean they were excluded.  

Not to mention the Trustees are elected.  Who the heck appointed you savior of the Hawaiians, "Ehu"?  I didn't vote for you.

5.  Cardwell suggests this plan will "...make a few individuals very wealthy."  The LLCs are non-profits; prevented by federal law from making anyone have excess compensation.  Another baseless accusation, "Ehu."

He then blathers on that says that only cultural values should drive OHA Trustee's decisions.  Not true -- they are trustees.  They need to balance fiduciary duties with cultural issues -- which is exactly what creating LLC's does.

So, C'mon "Ehu" -- how about giving us your real name, stop lying, and raise the debate to one based on facts.  

(and doesn't "broadcasting network" imply you have more than a few you tube videos and some public access shows?).

Ikaika Hussey - sloppy with the facts

In the end, it is possible that the lies about oha can all be traced to a few people.

Let’s fisk one: Mr. Ikaika Hussey has been in the main papers a great deal and now has his own web page disguising as a newspaper (http://www.hawaiistandard.com/).

Unfortunately, despite his being sought out by reporters for quotes, he is often disingenuous and inaccurate. As a result, he is one of the key sources of misinformation about OHA.

For instance, at the hearing on the Senate Bill that would effectuate the OHA settlement, he asked a number of questions about OHA's creation of a Limited Liability Corporation to manage Waimea Valley. He neglected to mention he had asked all of these questions previously of OHA and they had answered him. Grandstanding during testimony was apparently better than speaking the truth.

More recently his website links to a UH student newspaper website and Mr. Hussey highlights it and comments that this is a good article. The fact that he thinks that this piece of student journalism that was never fact checked is good is quite telling about his standards. The article itself is filled with many inaccuracies, including:

• Incorrectly stating that HB 266 does not provide for increases in annual payments over time
• Saying OHA will gain bonds (uh, it will gain funding from the bonds)
• Saying the US government manages all ceded lands
• Claiming OHA was holding its first community meeting on the settlement this past Monday (it was around the 35th)

If you want to believe in the continued independence of the Hawaiian Kingdom, fine. But remember that the Queen you love had a high standard for the truth you are woefully missing.

Too many lies about oha, too little time to respond

I am going to try and shed some light in this blog to help folks understand that so much of what they hear about OHA - from the far left and far right -- is just wrong.  Due to idiocy, ignorance, malice, or a combination, I am not sure.

Let's take a look at the latest post from ohalies referring to an oha phone bank meant to answer beneficiary questions about the public land trust revenue settlement. "Ms. Linda Gomes" states:

There is no doubt that the use of trust funds and government property to lobby support for the Ceded Land Settlement is unethical. This is a clear violation of beneficiary trust. OHA should not be utilizing trust funds and government property to lobby for public support, particularly the beneficiaries, pertaining to the Ceded Land Settlement and their 2008 Legislative Package. This is clear evidence that OHA is a Broken Trust.

Apparently "Linda" hasn't read either the Hawai'i State Constitution or Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 10. Both obligate -- require -- that OHA advocate on behalf of Hawaiians. Obviously, advocacy includes lobbying. What issue could be more important for OHA to advocate on than the settlement --to be paid a minimal amount of funds that the law requires, income that has been unpaid for three decades? This is more like clear evidence that ohalies is a broken record...grasping at straws for whatever bitter personal agenda that writer has.

a source for truth

The intention is that this blog will be a source for independent, accurate information about OHA.

There's a lot of errors out there.  Some just ignorance, some perpetuated purposefully.

For now, my focus will be on fisking:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisking

Fisking is badly needed regarding comments about OHA.