University to release
Dobelle records
A UH official says the documents
include an audit of Dobelle's
use of his protocol fund
University of Hawaii officials said they plan to publicly release documents relating to the firing of UH President Evan Dobelle today after a state office said the records should be open to the public.
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Dobelle's use of the $200,000-a-year protocol fund, which is financed by the nonprofit University of Hawaii Foundation, and the $1 million renovation of College Hill were key factors in the regents' decision to fire Dobelle in June.
The university previously held that the documents should remain confidential because of ongoing mediation and the potential for a lawsuit against the university by Dobelle.
The school has since reached a settlement with Dobelle in which it agreed to pay Dobelle $1.05 million. As part of the deal, the regents rescinded their firing of Dobelle, who agreed to resign effective Aug. 14.
Regents originally fired Dobelle "for cause," meaning he was not entitled to a $2.26 million severance package, but they have never released what the cause was.
In a letter yesterday to UH Associate General Counsel Presley Pang, state Office of Information Practices Director Leslie Kondo said the university has no basis to withhold the documents because Dobelle agreed to waive his privacy and confidentiality interest in the records when he settled with the university last week.
Kondo acknowledged that the university can withhold portions of the minutes of Board of Regents meetings, which are protected by attorney-client privilege. But he said the majority of the minutes, as well other remaining records requested by the Star-Bulletin and other local media, should be made public.
"We believe that the university should make the records available without further delay," Kondo said.
"(In) our opinion, given that Dr. Dobelle has waived any confidentiality or privacy interest in the record, there is no basis to withhold the records from public access."
Rick Fried, Dobelle's attorney, said his client has no problem with the release of the documents requested by the media.
But he said Dobelle's waiver applies to records that relate to his termination dispute with the university.
According to Fried, there is no waiver regarding the broader subject of Dobelle's employment as president of the university.
In addition to the critical Deloitte & Touche final audit of Dobelle's protocol fund and records relating to the College Hill renovation, the documents include any correspondence between Dobelle, his staff and the regents regarding polls conducted by Cambridge, Mass.-based Opinion Dynamics Corp., as well as records relating to the June 15 regents meeting in which Dobelle was fired while he was on vacation in Chicago.
The Star-Bulletin reported last month that Dobelle used more than $45,000 from his protocol fund for an opinion poll that partly asked whether his public image was damaged after he endorsed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mazie Hirono.
Dobelle has said that January 2003 poll was part of 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.