UH regents enter fray
over rejected nominee

Accusations fly as the panel
chairman denies wrongdoing

Amid questions of ethics, money and politics, University of Hawaii regents are entering the debate surrounding the state Senate's rejection of interim regent John Kai.

At a meeting yesterday, regent Vice Chairwoman Kitty Lagareta asked for a formal resolution to express the board's concern over Kai's treatment before the Senate.

"There is a political element to this that is completely inappropriate," Lagareta said.

However, Senate Higher Education Chairman Clayton Hee said politics had nothing to do with Kai's rejection.

Hee said Kai was voted down because of a lack of knowledge of issues and problems facing the university, especially UH-Hilo, which Kai is supposed to represent.

Hee also suggested that Gov. Linda Lingle's nomination of student regent Dylan Nonaka could face problems.

On Thursday, Nonaka, a UH-Hilo student senator, testified in favor of the tuition increase that regents will likely vote on next month.

Hee said that if other students oppose Nonaka's confirmation because of his position on raising tuition, then his hearing next week "will at least be very interesting."

Nonaka said not raising tuition could cause the university to cut back on the number of students that can be admitted, and said students should be offering other solutions instead of "blindly opposing" a tuition hike.

Earlier in the day, Hee spoke on the Senate floor about Kai's rejection and what he called an "error in judgment" in soliciting fund-raising tickets from Kai and other regents.

Kai said yesterday he is pursuing an ethics complaint against Hee for soliciting contributions from regents who come before his committee. Kai received a solicitation, but did not buy tickets.

Hee denied that the fund-raising tickets had anything to do with Kai's rejection, noting that 14 other senators had voted against Kai.

Hee told fellow senators that the money received from regent Ramon de la Pena, who was also up for confirmation, had been returned.

He added that Amy Agbayani, who had been splitting her time as a policy adviser to Hee and as director of the UH department of student equity, excellence and diversity, had resigned from his office.

Agbayani sent the fund-raising tickets to de la Pena, who said he has known Agbayani for years and has received fund-raising solicitations from her before.

Hee called Agbayani "an honorable woman" who "feels terrible" about her mistake.

Without mentioning Agbayani by name, Lagareta also suggested at yesterday's board meeting that the regents need to review and set policy for university employees who are asked to work at the Legislature.

Lagareta said she was "incensed and outraged" at the way Kai and de la Pena were questioned during their confirmation hearing. She said regents volunteer their time and the process can make it more difficult to find people willing to serve.

Kai thanked his fellow regents for their support, but said, "I do not want the university to be hurt and find themselves in a position of potential retribution." He noted that that the Legislature provides 45 percent of the funding for the university.

However, Lagareta said if the regents don't take a stand "and say no, we will continue to see that treatment and a level of arrogance" from the Legislature.

Board Chairwoman Patricia Lee suggested that rather than pass a resolution "in the heat of it," while Kai's rejection was still fresh, the regents should take time to think it through and bring up the issue next month.

Lagareta agreed to work on the resolution for next month's meeting.