{"id":1645,"date":"2014-05-13T05:28:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-13T05:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/?p=1645"},"modified":"2014-05-13T05:28:00","modified_gmt":"2014-05-13T05:28:00","slug":"associated-press-hawaiian-affairs-ceo-moving-forward-after-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/associated-press-hawaiian-affairs-ceo-moving-forward-after-letter\/","title":{"rendered":"Associated Press: Hawaiian Affairs CEO Moving Forward After Letter"},"content":{"rendered":"

HONOLULU (AP) \u2013 The chief executive of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs said\u00a0Monday<\/span>\u00a0he\u2019s moving forward after a disagreement with the organization\u2019s trustees over seeking clarification on the legal status of the Hawaiian Kingdom.<\/p>\n

But CEO Kamanaopono Crabbe told reporters\u00a0Monday<\/span>\u00a0he stands behind a letter<\/a> he sent to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry last week that sought a legal opinion on whether the kingdom continues to exist under international law.<\/p>\n

\u201cI continue to believe my decision to send the letter was in the best interest of OHA and the beneficiaries we serve,\u201d Crabbe said.<\/p>\n

The request revealed divisions within the state agency that has a mission of protecting Native Hawaiians and perpetuating Hawaiian culture.<\/p>\n

After Crabbe revealed the letter\u00a0on Friday<\/span>, all nine trustees signed a different note<\/a> to Kerry saying Crabbe\u2019s letter didn\u2019t reflect their position or that of the agency.\u00a0\u00a0On Monday<\/span>, one trustee, Dan Ahuna, mailed yet another letter<\/a> to Kerry reversing his position, removing his signature from the trustees\u2019 letter and giving his support to Crabbe.<\/p>\n

Crabbe, speaking at a news conference with nearly 100 supporters at the agency\u2019s headquarters in Honolulu, said he thought he had the blessing of the board\u2019s chairwoman, Colette Machade, before sharing the letter with the public.\u00a0 He said he believes answers to the questions in the letter are crucial for moving forward withpursuing a Native Hawaiian governing entity.<\/p>\n

Machado, who was in meetings on Molokai\u00a0on Monday<\/span>, did not immediately return a message seeking comment from the Associated Press.<\/p>\n

Crabbe said the board\u00a0took a position, and it\u2019s his role to implement that decision.\u00a0 \u201cWe are currently moving forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Crabbe said he had had several discussions with a majority of the board\u2019s nine trustees and looked forward to meeting with them again next week.\u00a0 \u201cThey have not asked me to resign,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In his original letter, Crabbe wrote that he was concerned with an analysis by scholars alleging the federal and state governments were illegal regimes.\u00a0 The scholars said Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustees and Native Hawaiian Roll Commission members may be criminally liable under international law.<\/p>\n

Crabbe said he would ask trustees to put off pursuing a Native Hawaiian governing entity until they confirmed the kingdom doesn\u2019t exist under international law.<\/p>\n

Crabbe said supporters of building a governing entity should continue their discussions.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemain vigilant and to be aware and to participate regarding their choice,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s what this is all about.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HONOLULU (AP) \u2013 The chief executive of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs said\u00a0Monday\u00a0he\u2019s moving forward after a disagreement with the organization\u2019s trustees over seeking clarification on the legal status of the Hawaiian Kingdom. But CEO Kamanaopono Crabbe told reporters\u00a0Monday\u00a0he stands … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national","category-treaties","category-war-crimes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p31YBQ-qx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1645"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1647,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1645\/revisions\/1647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}