[ OUR OPINION ]

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Public has right to know
reasons for Dobelle’s firing

THE ISSUE University of Hawaii regents are engaged in mediation with Evan Dobelle about settling the issues related to his firing as UH president.

CONTRARY to widespread opinion, journalists prefer not to base stories on statements from confidential sources. That method becomes necessary only when the government refuses to divulge information that should be public. The basis for the firing of Evan Dobelle as president of the University of Hawaii is a perfect example, and reports based on unnamed sources have begun to dribble into the media. More will follow.

Personnel matters pertaining to public employees normally are confidential, but that was not the reason given to Beverly Keever, a UH journalism professor, for keeping the reasons for Dobelle's firing under wraps. Presley Pang, associate general counsel for the university, instead explained in a letter that the Board of Regents' evaluation of Dobelle that led to the firing was "pre-decisional," falling under an exemption of the state's open records law.

The exemption cited by Pang allows documents to be kept from the public "to avoid the frustration of a legitimate government function." It seems that the regents accomplished their function when they decided to fire Dobelle on June 15. A denial of access to the documents would mean the public has a right to know about such an important decision, but not how the regents arrived at it.

Pang stated in his letter to Keever that documents related to Dobelle's firing "are not subject to disclosures to members of the public at this time." That does not necessarily mean they will be made public in the future. The regents and Dobelle currently are engaged in mediation. Keever, who has asked the state Office of Information Practices to support her request that the documents be made public, is understandably concerned that confidentiality may be a condition of a settlement; that is normal in settlement of court cases involving private parties but should not be a term of a settlement in this case.

The regents fired Dobelle "for cause," meaning that he stands to be denied $2.26 million in severance, obviously a major point in the mediation. The board members are scheduled to meet behind closed doors tomorrow to discuss the mediation. They should not agree on confidentiality to protect Dobelle's reputation in return for a severance payment of some reduced size. Denial of the public's right to know should not be for sale.

Regents have said that one of the factors in Dobelle's firing was a Deloitte & Touche audit of his spending from a $200,000-a-year protocol fund maintained by the UH Foundation. The fund was established for the use of Dobelle and his staff for fund-raising and other purposes that advance the university.

KITV-4's Keoki Kerr reported Monday that the audit revealed that the foundation spent $4,100 for a trip taken by Dobelle's wife, Kit, to represent him at a conference at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, according to unnamed sources. Kerr said investigators "want to know how she attended a UM-Amherst class reunion at the same time." Another issue that Kerr reported is being investigated were the expensive renovations to the university's presidential mansion and to Dobelle's office -- again, according to anonymous sources.

Dobelle told Kerr, "Every word is untrue and it's unbelievably unfair to bring this up during a period of mediation, which the regents requested. I would love to be able to talk to you, but we made a commitment not to speak to the press during mediation."

It was not clear whether Dobelle considered what the sources said to be untrue or that Kerr's sources were correct but the allegations were untrue. That sort of confusion occurs when the government tries to conceal the truth. Stay tuned.

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[IN APPRECIATION]

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Rockefeller’s link
to Hawaii endures

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AS Laurance S. Rockefeller told it, he was sailing around Hawaii "looking for a place to swim" when he came upon a crescent of sand at the Big Island's South Kohala Coast. The middle brother of the five grandsons of John D. Rockefeller had begun helping to design and build environmentally focused RockResorts beginning in 1955 from the Caribbean to Jackson Hole, Wyo., and quickly saw the potential for such a resort in Hawaii. A pioneer in Hawaii's tourism industry, he died Sunday at his home in New York City at age 94.

Mauna Kea Beach Resort, opened in 1965, was among the countless accomplishments of Rockefeller, known for his generosity on conservation, ecological concerns and medical research. He was instrumental in establishing and enlarging national parks not only in Hawaii but in Wyoming, California, the Virgin Islands, Vermont and Maine. His hotels contributed to the growth of what now is known as eco-tourism.

Rockefeller was one of the first mainland businessmen to realize Hawaii's resort potential. Mauna Kea, which claimed the loyalty of old-money guests, remains an embodiment of old Hawaii, adorned with its creator's private collection of 1,600 Pacific and Asian artworks and artifacts, including Hawaiian quilts, tapa cloths and hand-carved tiki.

President George H.W. Bush awarded Rockefeller the Congressional Gold Medal in 1991, praising him as a "hidden national treasure." Hawaii was among the beneficiaries of that treasure.