Broken Trust: The Book
Insert disclaimer and disclosures here. YMMV. These are my opinions and not necessarily those of my employer. No confidential information is disclosed nor none used to write this post.
It was a dark time for the Rebellion. Imperial Storm Troopers have driven the Rebel forces from their hidden base and pursued them across the galaxy. The Princess knew her time was short, but was determined to leave a legacy that would ultimately triumph. Little did she know that those to follow would themselves depart from her path - and turn towards the darkness...
Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop was the largest landowner and richest woman in the Hawaiian kingdom. Upon her death in 1884, she entrusted her property--known as Bishop Estate--to five trustees in order to create and maintain an institution that would benefit the children of Hawai'i: Kamehameha Schools. A century later, Bishop Estate controlled nearly one out of every nine acres in the state, a concentration of private land ownership rarely seen anywhere in the world. Then in August 1997 the unthinkable happened: Four revered kupuna (native Hawaiian elders) and a professor of trust-law publicly charged Bishop Estate trustees with gross incompetence and massive trust abuse. Entitled " Broken Trust," the statement provided devastating details of rigged appointments, violated trusts, cynical manipulation of the trust's beneficiaries, and the shameful involvement of many of Hawaii's powerful.
This book brings to light information that has never before been made public, including accounts of secret meetings involving Supreme Court justices, and ways the judiciary avoided a public airing of its dirty laundry. "Broken Trust" also throws a spotlight on the legislature, the legal profession, the native Hawaiian community, and the media, showing how each functioned-or failed to function-during the two-year crisis and its aftermath. This book offers readers the opportunity to reexamine fundamental questions about unchecked power and civic responsibility that resonate far beyond the shores of America's 50th State.
The Honolulu Star Bulletin is running a series of extended excerpts from this extraordinary soon to be released book ( available from Amazon or Barnes & Noble). The story it paints reflects what may be some of the worst instances of abuse of power this state, or this nation, has seen. It was as if the Bishop Estate trustees had created a new kingdom. A kingdom where they ruled and no one could, or dared, challenge their absolute rule.
The Bishop Estate seems to mirror all that was/is wrong in Hawaiian politics. Rather than operate openly and transparently, it ruled in secret. Manipulating people and institutions from behind the scenes. At the most, the Estate appeared to put on a show of being open but, if the author's are correct, that's all it was -- a show.
The Chapter 7 passage hits especially close to home. This chapter purports to chronicle the workings of the Hawaii Supreme Court during a time of choosing a new Bishop Estate trustee (which was chosen by the Court). It alleges that the "fix" was in to nominate former Governor John Waihee III (the first US governor of Hawaiian descent) and the man who, perhaps or perhaps not coincidentally, nominated the justices on the Court. According to the book, the Court, to its credit, created a relatively open process whereby a citizen committee would create a list of nominees from which the justices would choose the new trustee. However, the list the committee ultimately submitted did not include the Governor. At that point, the authors say, things began to change. The list was rejected and another candidate put forth. Why the Court changed the process I don't know because not only wasn't I there, but I wasn't even with the Judiciary until several years after these events (not to say that had I been there I would necessarily know now).
But whatever happened, it seems trustee avarice and hubris versus the steadfast courage of the five individuals involved brought needed reforms that to this day are still reverberating through our islands.
Aloha!