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MN: And I know that after your years of politics, and after your being a District Family Court judge, you returned to private practice, and you eventually became a counsel to Servco.

KM: Yeah, I got involved with the Hawaii Housing Commission, the public housing authority. That was under John (Waihee). So both so-called non-political jobs that I got, basically, political jobs is under Democratic governors, Governor Burns and Governor Wallace. Waihee, John Waihee. John Waihee. Under his regime I was appointed to the Hawaii Housing Commission.

MN: And how many years did you serve with the Hawaii Housing?

KM: The commission was appointed basically four years, but I replaced somebody after the first year. So the first term was three years, and then I served another second term of four years. So seven years I served as a member of the Hawaii Housing Commission.

MN: And basically, what was the job of the commission?

KM: Well, it was the executive director who was the appointee of the commission. But the housing commission's basic duty was to oversee the housing program of the state. More importantly, as commissioners, our authority was quasi-judicial because the commission had the power to evict residents of non-payment or for disruptive behavior or for whatever reason that we have as by state law. We have obligation to manage and run the Hawaii Housing. We had how many members? Eight members? I think it was an eight-member commission under the Department of Human Resources. And the department head was also a member of the commission. And what we did was the housing tenants were subject to eviction, primarily, number one, for nonpayment of rental. It was the primary duty of the commission to hear the, basically the appeals by these other low-level, they are ordered to be evicted for nonpayment example. And they would appeal to the commission the order of eviction. And the hearing would be held by the commission members, and then we would either allow the eviction or overrule the eviction. We've had instances where we've overruled the hearing officer's decision to evict. But ultimately, the eviction -- and they have a further right to appeal to the district courts. And during my tenure, I don't recall if we had any appeals of our decision to the district courts because the district court was to the circuit court, because the Legal Aid would step in, in cases where they thought that our ruling was no appropriate. But it's a real problem because after we evict the individual family members and they become homeless, the department continues to be responsible for them under the homeless program. So it is basically something that is from one hand to the other hand in the department of housing.

MN: So the problem doesn't disappear.

KM: No, it doesn't disappear.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2021 Densho. All Rights Reserved.