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Thursday, November 25, 1999

Official's remark divisive
Hawaii's ethnic chasms move into clearer focus
By Jean Christensen
Associated Press

   HONOLULU - An elected state official who repeatedly called disabled Sen. Daniel Inouye a "one-armed bandit" denied on Wednesday a new allegation that she threatened to "kick Inouye's yellow ass."
   The latest furor involving Mililani Trask - and her refusal to apologize - has widened the ethnic chasm in the islands, where native Hawaiians are struggling for some form of sovereignty while claiming to be victims of racial discrimination.
   Trask, long a militant activist for native Hawaiian rights, was elected last year as a trustee of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, which oversees a state program benefiting descendants of the islands' original residents. Only those with Hawaiian blood can serve on the board or vote for trustees.
   Inouye, a Democrat who is Japanese-American, had no comment Wednesday. He has said he was "saddened" by Trask's earlier remarks.
   "Regardless of Trask's passion in pursuing justice for Hawaiians, fueling racial hatred and division is unacceptable in our multicultural state," said Terry Albritton, a resident of Wailuku on Maui.
   The 75-year-old senator was first elected to public office when Hawaii was a territory, became a congressman in 1959 after statehood, and was elected to the Senate in 1962. He lost his right arm in a grenade blast while serving in the Army during World War II.
   The alleged slur surfaced in a confidential memo from OHA trustee Colette Machado to her colleagues. Machado also claimed Trask called her "Inouye's whore" for allegedly being under Inouye's political control.
   Trask denied the slurs and accused Machado of lying and coordinating a smear campaign against her.
   She repeated the "bandit" remark several times at a news conference Wednesday, saying it was a nickname given Inouye by his fellow soldiers. Inouye has said he never heard it before.
   Trask refused to apologize to Inouye or to resign. Instead, she has said she is sorry if disabled people or those of Japanese ancestry were offended.
   She said she preferred to work with Hawaii's other senator, Democrat Daniel Akaka, who is Hawaiian.
   The furor has pulled OHA further into controversy as it awaits a U.S. Supreme Court decision on whether it can constitutionally bar those without Hawaiian blood from serving on its board or voting for its trustees.
   OHA was established in 1978 to run a $300 million trust benefiting the islands' estimated 200,000 residents of Hawaiian blood. The office oversees a wide variety of economic, social, health and education programs.
   Many residents defend Inouye for his efforts to win federal funding for native Hawaiian health, housing and education programs. Hawaii is one of the nation's largest recipients of federal largess on a per-capita basis.
   He also supported the 1993 congressional resolution apologizing to Hawaiians for American involvement in the 1893 overthrow of the monarchy.

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