The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is supposed to be a transitory state agency authorized to manage a trust fund for the benefit of Native Hawaiians, a duty it would hand off someday to a political body recognized as having some measure of sovereign control.

It's strange how much longevity transitory agencies — and the people elected to serve in them — can have.

OHA has had a sometimes tumultuous history in the quarter-century of its existence, and selecting leadership is the key to progress.

Because voters on all islands vote for representatives of individual islands as well as at-large candidates, most of them with little name recognition, the choice can be dizzying. The advantage of incumbency is greater than ever.

It's unfortunate, because OHA really needs to hear from a wider range of voices to build a greater consensus. This is crucial in its efforts to serve trust beneficiaries, and especially to enable Native Hawaiians' self-governance and control of lands and other resources set aside for them.

For this reason, The Advertiser is endorsing a slate of candidates who would be newcomers to the board. To be sure, the incumbents whose terms end this year all can make a credible case for re-election and still have a political edge; the purpose here is to highlight other qualified candidates who deserve a shot but might be overlooked.

And coupled with the new range of views, four incumbents whose terms have not expired would remain at the table for transition, providing the right balance of institutional memory and fresh voices.

Following are five who merit voters' attention: