Dobelle used $45,000
for image-rating pollOne question asked if his support
of Hirono was viewed negatively
Fired University of Hawaii president Evan Dobelle used $45,000 of UH Foundation money for an opinion poll that asked whether his public image was damaged after he endorsed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mazie Hirono, the Star-Bulletin has learned.
The poll, conducted in January 2003, was cited in a draft audit report of spending from Dobelle's protocol fund, a $200,000-a-year discretionary account maintained by the UH Foundation for fund-raising and other purposes to advance the university.
Auditors discovered that the poll results had not been presented to the UH Foundation board and as of May could not locate a copy of the poll.
However, the president of the Cambridge, Mass., company that conducted the survey said he sent a copy of the poll to the university a few weeks ago when he was asked.
"If they had asked for a copy earlier, they could have had a copy earlier," said John Gorman, president of Opinion Dynamics Corp.
Gorman acknowledged that there might have been a general "open-ended" question about approval or disapproval of Dobelle's performance.
However, he said to "the best of his knowledge," the question did not involve the endorsement of then-Lt. Gov. Hirono.
However, sources who have seen some of the poll results told the Star-Bulletin that the poll did ask questions about Dobelle's image and specifically mentioned the former president's support of Hirono.
According to a source, poll respondents were asked, "Is there anything Evan Dobelle has done as president of the university that you particularly liked?"
It was followed up by this question: "Is there anything he's done that you particularly disliked or thought was bad?"
The multiple-choice answers were "none/nothing," "supported Mazie Hirono" and "political involvement."
Television commercials featuring Dobelle, acting as a private citizen, endorsing Hirono began running the week before the election.
The nonbid contract to conduct the poll was entered into on Oct. 24, 2002, and was signed by Dobelle on Nov. 5 -- election day.
Gorman, a friend of Dobelle's, said he has known the former UH president since Dobelle worked for Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Ed Brooke in the early 1970s. He also conducted some polling for Dobelle during his time at San Francisco City College.
Last month, Dobelle said Gorman got the contract because of his national reputation, noting that Opinion Dynamics conducts polls for Fox News, and not because of their friendship.
Gorman said the January 2003 poll questions were about "issues affecting the university." He said the survey asked about 90 to 100 questions ranging from what programs are important at the university to community college funding.
Gorman said it is not unusual in university surveys to ask questions about how the president is viewed, noting that "you judge an organization by its leadership to some extent."
In a large survey, "it's not like there's a huge marginal cost in asking it (questions about Dobelle's image)," he added.
In another nonbid contract in the fall of 2001, Gorman conducted a separate survey about the image of the university and presented his results to the Board of Regents in June 2002.
Opinion Dynamic's Web site describes the polls conducted for UH as "multiple research projects focusing on the image of the university, public support for government funding, directions for the future and desired changes."
The research also involved surveys with alumni on the university's image and alumni donations.
Dobelle's attorney Rick Fried had no comment on the poll. Dobelle, the university and the regents are not talking to the media as they try to mediate the dispute over Dobelle's firing.
In an interview last month, Dobelle said the poll was a marketing survey conducted in conjunction with the UH Foundation's Centennial Campaign to raise $200 million for the 100th anniversary of UH in 2007.
Dobelle said the results were not presented to the foundation board because the campaign had not been officially approved by the Board of Regents and because Gorman was not able to make it out to Hawaii before May to present the findings.
Gorman confirmed that he talked to Dobelle about coming out to Hawaii to present the results, but that the meeting was never scheduled because of various schedule conflicts.
Dobelle said one of the questions from the January 2003 poll determined that 55 percent of respondents referred to UH sports teams as the Rainbow Warriors, while only 30 percent thought of them as just Warriors.
Those poll results were reported by Star-Bulletin sports columnist Kalani Simpson in March of this year.
In that article, Dobelle told Simpson he expected to present the poll to the foundation in April.
The poll results on the marketing of the university, Dobelle said, were still valid even if it has been more than a year since the poll was taken.
"It's not dated information," he said. "It will be as relevant as when it was taken."
Documents in the draft audit of the protocol fund also show that even though the poll was commissioned in November 2002, Opinion Dynamics was not paid its $45,000 fee for the January poll until last October. The protocol fund began to run out of money toward the end of its fiscal year in June 2003, according to the draft audit. However, it was not clear if that was a factor in the late payment.
The contract with Opinion Dynamics was for $90,000 plus expenses for two polls -- with a second poll to be conducted in June 2003. In a handwritten note on the contract, Dobelle wrote, "no more than $99,999 for both surveys."
Under university procurement policies, all consultant contracts in excess of $100,000 require prior Board of Regents approval.
The June 2003 survey was never conducted, Dobelle said.
Regents fired Dobelle on June 15 "for cause." The phrase is significant because it effectively denies Dobelle a $2.26 million severance payment. Dobelle has hired attorneys and is considering filing a lawsuit against the university.
Cause, as defined in his contract, would be actions that constitute "moral turpitude," bring public disrespect and contempt or ridicule upon the university, and, if proved in a court of law, would constitute grounds for criminal conviction or civil liability.
Regents are meeting today with their attorney in a closed-door session to discuss mediation efforts to reach a settlement with Dobelle over his firing.
The Star-Bulletin has requested, through the state's open-records law, copies of the January 2003 survey, the final Deloitte & Touche audit of the protocol fund, and other documents. Associate general counsel Presley Pang denied access to all documents relating to Dobelle's evaluation, citing Dobelle's privacy rights, the threat of a lawsuit and the ongoing mediation.