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The Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees is scheduled to meet behind closed doors today to discuss the contract of CEO Kamana‘opono Crabbe. Read more

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees is scheduled to meet behind closed doors today to discuss the contract of CEO Kamana‘opono Crabbe.

Crabbe and the board have come under heavy criticism following a state audit that slammed the agency for spending “with little restraint.”

In addition, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the state Attorney General are investigating the agency, according to Hawaii News Now, which has reported that OHA has been asked to turn over documents going back to 2012.

Spokesman Sterling Wong said OHA had no comment regarding either the executive session or the investigation.

Meanwhile, Trustee Keli‘i Akina is calling on his colleagues to hold Crabbe responsible for the OHA’s spending issues.

“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,” Akina said in a statement Wednesday.

The CEO is the sole employee of the board and is responsible for carrying out the board’s directives.

Trustees attempted to oust Crabbe in early 2017 when Rowena Akana was board chairperson, but they didn’t have the required six votes to pull it off and, with five votes, decided to enter into negotiations to buy out Crabbe’s contract.

But the agency’s top staffer not only resisted any offers but defiantly waived his right to discuss his situation in a closed session scheduled to address his employment contract.

In an impassioned monologue, Crabbe reminded trustees that his new three-year, $450,000 contract is legally binding and enforceable in court. He said there is no provision to terminate without cause, and that a costly buyout would be “a breach of your fiduciary duties.”

He said his commitment to OHA’s mission of bettering the lives of Native Hawaiians prevented him from accepting any buyout.

Crabbe told the board that some trustees were “tearing our image down,” and acting with behavior “unbecoming of servant leaders” and in a way that undermines the agency’s morale and purpose. He said he was fed up with it, but that he continued to rise above it to keep his focus on OHA’s mission.

After Akina called for Crabbe’s dismissal last month, OHA Chairwoman Colette Machado defended the CEO, saying among other things that the action is not included in any of the auditor’s 10 recommendations.

“The employment of OHA’s CEO is a confidential, personnel matter for the full Board of Trustees to decide and inappropriate to discuss in public,” she said in a statement.

The report, which revealed inappropriate spending over a two-year period, said vague rules governing discretionary spending are broadly interpreted, arbitrarily enforced and sometimes ignored.

During fiscal years 2015 and 2016, OHA generated nearly twice as much discretionary spending — $14 million — as it did on budgeted, vetted and monitored grants — $7.7 million, according to the audit, which also pointed out that the discretionary funds don’t face the same rigorous vetting, monitoring and reporting requirements of OHA’s formal grant process.

A more comprehensive audit approved by the board last year is expected to probe deeper into the agency’s spending issues.

Today’s 10 a.m. meeting will be at OHA headquarters, 560 N. Nimitz Highway in Suite 200.