Dobelle defends University of Hawaii President Evan Dobelle defended his use of UH Foundation money to take a group of big-time donors to see Janet Jackson at Aloha Stadium as an appropriate expense for entertaining and educating benefactors.
donors’ night out
The UH president says the
Janet Jackson concert was
useful for the benefactorsBy Treena Shapiro
tshapiro@starbulletin.comDobelle is under fire from a key state senator for using foundation funds, but he said it was either the Feb. 16 concert or a black-tie dinner at College Hill, and he believes he made the right choice.
The donors "understood more about UH by going to that pop cultural event than they could have by having a high-end dinner, which would have cost, by the way, twice as much money," he said yesterday.
Dobelle said he used his own money to buy tickets for his wife and son, neither of whom were particularly impressed with Jackson's performance, but "the people who we took thought it was terrific, and I was glad for that."
Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Brian Taniguchi has introduced a resolution that asks the state auditor to investigate how the money in the UH Foundation is being used, whether any money is being diverted for private use and other issues.
Dobelle said that the 25 tickets at $65 each were paid for out of his $150,000 annual protocol fund, which comes from the foundation's operating budget, not private donations unless they are specified for that use. He said the donors who attended the concert each have the potential to donate or raise a million dollars for the UH, and some already have.
Dobelle said the concert gave the donors, all 60 to 80 years old, a cultural experience and "the opportunity to see 20,000 people, all of whom I'm challenged to educate.
"I'm not about coming to Hawaii to run black-tie dinners at my house with white wine and pate when I can give people an experience to understand what we're about."
Gov. Ben Cayetano said Dobelle should be given some slack and flexibility on such spending.
"There is a real lack of appreciation (in the Legislature) about what people like President Dobelle have to do to court and develop support for the University of Hawaii," he said Tuesday.
"If he uses that money to buy tickets for his family, that might be one thing that I would question," Cayetano said. "But if he uses it to take potential donors or supporters to the concert, that's totally proper.
"It is part of just doing business, and I think that if the Legislature doesn't understand this, they lack the experience at that level of business," he said. "It's such a manini thing."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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