The state Office of Hawaiian Affairs has enlisted larger-than-life retired U.S. Sen. Ben Night-horse Campbell to help its efforts to push the Akaka bill through Congress.

Campbell, 75, is the son of a Northern Cheyenne Indian, and was the first American Indian to serve in the U.S. Senate when he represented Colorado from 1992 to 2004. For a time, he chaired the Indian Affairs Committee, the only American Indian to do so.

OHA administrator Clyde Namu'o said OHA's strategy is to try to get the Akaka bill out of Congress and into the hands of President Bush before the end of the year. Failure to do so would send the matter back to the drawing board.

The measure, which has stalled in Congress for a number of years, would create a process allowing for the establishment of a Hawaiian government entity that could be recognized by the federal government.

A congressional lobbying registration form — dated May 9, 2008, and filed by the lobbying and legal firm of Holland & Knight LLP — lists Campbell and David Devendorf, Campbell's former congressional aide, as lobbyists with the task of helping OHA under the category "federal recognition."

Namu'o said Campbell is being retained under a subcontract with Patton Boggs, the Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm that OHA has paid more than $2 million to help win support for the Akaka bill.

Namu'o noted that Campbell is a longtime Republican. "There were certain Republican senators who Patton Boggs felt former Sen. Campbell could be helpful in discussing the positive aspects of the Akaka bill," Namu'o said.

Exactly how much Campbell is being paid could not immediately be ascertained because Campbell is being compensated directly by Patton Boggs. In its latest lobbying report filed for the first three months of the year, Patton Boggs reported income of $140,000 for its work on the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act, also known as the Akaka bill.

Campbell could not be reached for comment. A colorful figure, Campbell is described in online profiles as a rancher, businessman and captain of the 1964 U.S. Olympic judo team. He also is an artist.

Devendorf said Campbell is "working to try to help garner support for the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization bill."

Namu'o said OHA is still aiming to get enough senators to pass a cloture petition on the Akaka bill, which would lead the way to a Senate floor vote on the issue before the end of the year. Failure to do so could leave supporters back at the starting gate, needing to get House approval and possibly having to move through committee hearings, he said.

TIMING CRITICAL

"This is the second year of the biennial session. So, in 2009 they start all over again," Namu'o said. "So new bills would need to be introduced in the House and Senate. They would have to go through the entire process all over again — committee hearings, if they choose to, in both the House and the Senate."

A representative for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told The Advertiser in April that the bill is expected to be heard later this year.

Jesse Broder Van Dyke, a spokesman for bill namesake Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i, said on Friday that his boss would like to see the bill passed this year as well.

"The majority leader has said he hopes to bring the bill to the floor this year, but obviously there are still a number of issues that are important to the nation still pending on the Senate calendar," Van Dyke said. "But I don't think that it's over. We're still trying to do it in this Congress."

AUGUST BREAK

Congress will break for a month in August then regroup for the rest of the year after the major parties hold their national conventions, Van Dyke said.

The House has twice approved the legislation, but it has been stymied in the Senate.

The Bush administration has indicated opposition to the bill, and the president may veto it if it passes.

Namu'o, however, said that while the Department of Justice and Office of Management and the Budget have voiced reservations about the bill, President Bush himself has not stated he would veto it.

"We don't believe that the questions (raised by federal agencies) cannot be addressed," Namu'o said.

If the debate over the Akaka bill were to drag into next year, the dynamics of the discussion would change immensely with the changing landscape of Washington. Not only would there be a new Congress, there would be a new president. Democrat Barack Obama supports the bill, and Republican John McCain opposes it.

Of the 100 Senate seats, 35 are up for grabs this fall, according to the June 30 issue of Time magazine. Of those, five are held by Republicans who have announced they are retiring.

The process created by the Akaka bill for organizing a Native Hawaiian government would include development of a roll of Native Hawaiians and an election of an interim governing council. The council would develop the documents on which the government would be based.

Once the United States recognizes the new government, negotiations would take place on the disposition of Native Hawaiian land, natural resources and other assets.

When the bill was last before the Senate in June 2006, it drew unanimous support from all Democrats voting and 13 Republicans, but the 56-41 vote was short of the 60 needed for a cloture motion to overcome a Republican filibuster. Since then, more Democrats and an independent have taken seats in the Senate, giving the party a 51-49 edge.

All 13 Republicans who voted for cloture are still in the Senate, but two of them, McCain and Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., are expected to oppose the bill.