Former UH regent blasts Dobelle in letter

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer

When businessman Michael Hartley resigned as a member of the University of Hawai'i Board of Regents, he left behind a blistering letter critical of UH President Evan Dobelle, both for his endorsement of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mazie Hirono and for what Hartley termed "lavish and unproductive spending."

In his letter to the regents, a copy of which was obtained by The Advertiser, Hartley said the spending he referred to was $30,000 that he alleges Dobelle spent to attend the UH football game against BYU in Utah in September.

Hartley, a multimillionaire who was on the board for just three months, wrote that this "will discourage governmental grants and private donors — and ultimately will make it more difficult to improve educational facilities and opportunities for the real constituency of the university — the state's youth."

Paul Costello, vice president for external affairs for the university, called Hartley's contentions "ludicrous."

"What makes it difficult to raise funds for the university," Costello said, "are making and perpetuating allegations about lavish spending that are false and have no merit."

Costello said that quite the contrary, the trip was "low budget."

Four people went, including Manoa chancellor Peter Englert, interim Vice chancellor Deane Neubauer, executive assistant Prescott Stewart and Dobelle. The first three flew on tickets that cost the university nothing because they were part of a "trade-out" with Delta Airlines for stadium advertising.

The university paid for Dobelle's economy ticket, Costello said, and then the UH Foundation covered an upgrade to business class, per the president's contract.

"They had a free box from BYU, there was no catered food except drinks and pretzels and they bought coupons for dinner."

The hotel rooms cost $79 plus tax at the Sheraton, and they stayed one night, he said. Each of the administrators paid individually, and out of their own staff budgets.

Dobelle received a $130 per diem for the two days.

Hartley could not be reached for further comment beyond his letter. Members of the Board of Regents likewise could not be reached. The board was on Kaua'i on Friday for the regents' monthly meeting,

Although Hartley's unhappiness with Dobelle's endorsement was made public when Hartley first resigned Nov. 5, he went into greater detail in his letter, saying that Dobelle's endorsement of Hirono "brings no benefit to the University of Hawai'i but certainly has a high potential for damage."

He said no board members were given time to provide counsel on the decision or to raise objections.

"Perhaps if the president had taken counsel from the board prior to the announcement, he might have made a different decision," Hartley wrote. "But even if he had not changed his mind, the consultation would have reflected respect for the views of the board and the impact of such an endorsement on us and the university."

At the time of Hartley's resignation Dobelle said he endorsed Hirono as a private citizen and not as UH president.

The post-election fallout over Dobelle's endorsement was immediate, with Gov.-elect Linda Lingle publicly stating that she hung up the phone on the university president when he called to inform her of his actions.

Hartley's letter also criticized Dobelle for "following an agenda that will create additional costly and unproductive bureaucracy."

Dobelle has proposed a reorganization of his own office and the community college system that would add three more vice presidents but put more power in the hands of the community college leaders.

The speed with which the plan has moved forward to meet legislative agendas has upset several constituencies who didn't feel they were consulted, including the Manoa Faculty Senate and the student caucus.

While formal actions have now been taken to provide for participation by both, on Friday the Board of Regents postponed action on the proposal and called for a special meeting to consider it in mid-December after student groups received more input.

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.