Regent quits over project
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
Maui developer Everett Dowling has resigned from the University of Hawai'i Board of Regents, citing the controversy over his connection with a proposed expansion of UH astronomy facilities on Maui.
The letter of resignation, addressed to Gov. Linda Lingle, was dated yesterday, but Dowling said that he faxed it to Lingle and to UH President Evan Dobelle Wednesday.
Dowling, whose second four-year term would have expired in 2006, has been defending himself against conflict-of-interest charges, although he's been abiding by a state Ethics Commission ruling that there is no conflict as long as he recuses himself from further board discussions of the project.
"I'm not pleased with the type of inferences that have been made," he said yesterday, citing criticism of his position by UH regents Ted Hong and Kitty Lagareta, two recent Lingle appointees to the board. "When you get involved in donating your time and resources to help nonprofit organizations, this isn't exactly what you look for.
"As I recall what they said in the hearings, they have nothing against me personally but they have a problem with me being on the board" while this proposal advances, Dowling said.
Hong and Lagareta have been the most outspoken critics of Dowling's proposed business deal, but Lagareta emphasized that the other board members have agreed there is an ethical problem with a project being linked to a regent.
The deal involves the UH purchase of two lots within the Kulamalu Town Center, a commercial-residential project in Pukalani that Dowling's company owns.
The company — Kulamalu Science LLC, a limited liability company formed a year ago expressly for the astronomy development — also would make improvements needed to accommodate the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope, a facility worth an estimated $80 million to $100 million. Hawai'i is one of seven sites being considered for the project.
Dowling said he hadn't received any response from the governor yesterday.
"I think she looks forward to making her own appointments," he said. "I was a Cayetano appointment" — referring to former Gov. Ben Cayetano — "and I think she wants to fill the board with her people."
Dobelle was out of town and unavailable for comment; Lingle aides did not have a statement from the governor regarding the resignation.
Dowling's letter states that his opponents wanted him to resign, but Hong and Lagareta denied that. The "preferred course of action" that they favored, Lagareta said, was to have someone other than a sitting regent develop the project.
Both emphasized that the ethics ruling had cleared Dowling based on "a minimum standard of conduct," a standard that, they said, ought to be raised.
And both denied that there is any connection between their records as longtime Lingle supporters and their position on the project. They said they simply were opposed to UH approaching Dowling for the project, placing him in what Hong called "an untenable position."
"The Institute for Astronomy is selling it to us that this is the only place, and it's got to be done now," Hong said. "They've oversold the project to us. I am concerned that this reflects badly on the board ... and it casts an unnecessary bad shadow on Regent Dowling."
Dowling countered that his site is ideal because it has its own well for water and all the needed zoning in place.
"We could be under construction by the first of the year," he said. "It's an $80 million to $100 million project ... I can't think of any UH project on Maui that's ever had that kind of impact. The only thing comparable is the supercomputer," a reference to the Maui High Performance Computing Center.
Lagareta said that the site may be ideal but she isn't convinced that Dowling is the only one who could develop it.
"To have him resign isn't the preferred option, but it is one option," she said. "We don't want even the appearance of a conflict.
"I guess what he's doing is very honorable. If he really wants a contract with the university, then he did the honorable thing."
Hong said Lingle has never contacted him on the issue.
"I know this sounds weird because of our political culture, but when she made the appointment she did not give me any guidance. The only instruction she gave was to remember that my demeanor reflects on her."
"A lot of us got involved with creating a new administration because we were tired of these deals," Lagareta said. "I'm tired of the kind of thinking that only those who sit at the table get to slice up the pie."
Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.
