In a spirited forum yesterday on a Native Hawaiian federal recognition bill, the state's attorney general and a former state Supreme Court justice defended the bill as critical to protect Hawaiian programs from legal assault, while a conservative legal scholar called it racial separatism and a sovereignty activist condemned it as a sellout to independence.

The forum, televised last night on KHON-2 and PBS Hawai'i, was the first of two on federal recognition this week and was among the most dynamic public discussions on the bill since Hawai'i senators held hearings on O'ahu five years ago. A second forum is scheduled at 5 p.m. today at the Japanese Cultural Center that will later air on the 'Olelo cable channel.

Both supporters and opponents of the bill want to influence public opinion ahead of a potential vote next month in the U.S. Senate. Earlier yesterday, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs released a poll in which 68 percent of the people who responded support the bill.

The bill would create a process for Native Hawaiians to form their own government and negotiate with the state and federal governments on issues such as land use. It would recognize Hawaiians as an indigenous people, similar to American Indians and Alaskan Natives.

While the bill has broad political support in Hawai'i, the forum — sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Hawai'i and the Hawai'i Institute for Public Affairs — yesterday showed its complexity.

The U.S. Supreme Court has not specifically ruled on whether Native Hawaiians have a political relationship with the United States government, similar to American Indians, that would allow Hawaiians-only programs to continue. The court did rule in 2000 that preventing non-Hawaiians from voting for OHA trustees was unconstitutional, and a federal appeals court declared this month that the race-based admissions policy at Kamehameha Schools was a violation of federal civil rights law.

State Attorney General Mark Bennett said Hawaiian programs would continue to come under legal attack without the bill, which, if passed, would at least likely prompt the courts to settle the legal question. "They are seeking to have them all declared unconstitutional," he said.

Former state Supreme Court justice Robert Klein, who is working with OHA on the bill, said he has heard mostly "fear-mongering and despair" from opponents.

"It is the way," Klein said. "It is the only way in our system that you can protect the assets Hawaiians desperately need."

But Bruce Fein, a constitutional lawyer hired by the Grassroot Institute of Hawai'i to fight the bill, said it would "plant the seeds of racial separateness and of hatred in the law."

Fein said all Hawai'i voters should be given a chance to decide on the final form of a Native Hawaiian government. There is no vote planned under the bill now, but voters would have to approve whether to amend the state constitution if OHA or the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands were to become part of a new government.

Kaleikoa Kaeo of Maui, a spokesman for Hui Pu and NOA (Not of America), tried to steer the forum toward what he said was the improper annexation of Hawai'i by the United States in 1898. He said Native Hawaiians have never relinquished their sovereignty.

At one point, after Bennett explained the bill would likely be amended to satisfy opponents, making it clear it would not allow gambling or exemptions to tax or criminal law, Kaeo said, "Where is the self-determination in that?"

At 'Iolani Palace yesterday morning, OHA announced the results of a poll by Ward Research that found strong support for federal recognition. The poll, conducted Aug. 15-18, obtained responses from 401 people and has a margin of error of 4.9 percent.

It showed that 84 percent believe Native Hawaiians should receive federal recognition as indigenous people, 65 percent believe Hawaiians have a right to self-governance similar to other indigenous people, and 86 percent believe Hawaiian programs at Kamehemeha Schools, OHA and the Department of Hawaiian Home Land should continue.

Sixty-eight percent said they supported the recognition bill. And 80 percent disagreed with opponents who argue that Native Hawaiians should not be given recognition based on race.

"So we are asking for parity with other indigenous groups in the United States and asking that Hawaiians be given the recognition they deserve and also the process to work with the state and our federal government," said U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i, the bill's main sponsor.

Akaka said a poll earlier this summer by the Grassroot Institute, circulated by the bill's conservative opponents, did not help the bill's cause with Republicans in the Senate. "Now with the one reported today, 80 percent is really encouraging," he said.

The Grassroot Institute's results were based on responses of 980 people to a question about whether they would support a Native Hawaiian government where Hawaiians would not be subject to all the same laws, regulations and taxes as other Hawai'i residents. Forty-one percent were in opposition, 20 percent were in favor and 39 percent gave no response.

Richard Rowland, president of the Grassroot Institute, said he is pleased the bill is getting a thorough debate. "Let's have a vote of all the people in Hawai'i before it's even considered in Washington," Rowland said. "Let them put their money where their mouth is."

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com and Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.