By David Shapiro

One of the most refreshing qualities of University of Hawai'i President Evan Dobelle is his genuine commitment to personal and public openness.

Some find it annoying the way Dobelle shows up all over town with an opinion about everything. But consider what it means: You always know what he's thinking and you always have a chance to get in your 2 cents before he makes a decision.

Our local government might actually work if all public officials were so open in their dealings.

Dobelle says he hopes to make UH a beacon of openness that will lead Hawai'i's historically secretive public institutions into the sunshine.

"This university has special responsibilities to ensure openness," he said this week in a speech to the Honolulu-Community Media Council and the Society of Professional Journalists. "The University of Hawai'i is accountable to the public not only because their taxes provide our baseline operational funds, but because our mission derives from the public's hopes and dreams for Hawai'i."

These are platitudes, to be sure, but it's unprecedented to hear them from a top state leader. If Dobelle's way of thinking takes hold, it's a prescription for change that could make a real dent in public cynicism and put Hawai'i on the road to solving some of our most intractable problems.

The challenge will be to hold him to the promise as he encounters stubborn regents, legislators, administrators and business interests who have become comfortable dealing behind closed doors.

Ironically, the secretive process UH regents followed in Dobelle's own hiring was one of the most contentious government secrecy issues of the past year. This week, the Big Island Press Club skewered regents with its annual Lava Tube Award for excessive secrecy.

To Dobelle's credit, he was the first UH president to open his own contract to public scrutiny, said Jeffrey Portnoy, First Amendment attorney and Media Council president.

And Dobelle promises that future hiring for top jobs, including athletic director and chancellor of UH-Manoa, will be conducted openly with opportunity for community, faculty and student input — even if it means scaring off some prospective candidates.

"Being more open is, in fact, making us more effective and efficient," he said. "The university has needlessly expended a great deal of staff time and expertise in court trying to justify its (secretive) hiring and salary procedures."

The UH president sees an alarming connection between official secrecy and Hawai'i's lowest-in-the-nation voter turnout and registration.

"Letting the sun shine into places that have remained dark for a great many years is one of the ways we re-inspire ourselves," he said.

"Sunshine isn't simply a philosophy about sharing information with the public — it's part of something larger, and that is getting the public more involved with the process itself," Dobelle said.

"It takes an entire community to make a university great, and by exposing the university's process to the public, we also expose the university to the public's concerns, ideas and ambitions."

Dobelle said the argument applies beyond the university to the entire state government. "Reversing closed-door processes and decision-making is a vital way to begin restoring public trust and confidence in governmental agencies and policies," he said.

Dobelle put some of the responsibility on the news media, suggesting coverage of public affairs has moved beyond our traditional healthy skepticism to a cynicism that has infected public life and discouraged active citizenship.

That's fair enough. If he can deliver on his promise to inspire greater openness at the university and in the state government, we can probably stand to tone down the sarcasm.

David Shapiro can be reached by e-mail at dave@volcanicash.net.