The revelation was among the more significant details contained in hundreds of pages of internal documents released yesterday by the University of Hawai'i concerning the bitter dispute between Dobelle and the regents that led to his June 15 firing and subsequent mediated out-of-court settlement.

Although no single piece of evidence emerged that appears to rise to the level of a "for cause" firing as detailed in Dobelle's contract, regents' attorney William McCorriston said last night that what was released yesterday is only "the tip of the iceberg."

The university has said more documents will be released as they can be redacted to protect third-party privacy.

Dobelle attorney L. Richard Fried Jr., reached last night, said: "There's nothing in any of the documents that in our opinion was a 'smoking gun.' I've spent a lot of time looking at the documents and I think that's the best way to characterize it."

Dobelle agreed with the release of documents, saying: "I've always felt the public has a right to know everything. I think it's appropriate that things are open."

Regarding running short of discretionary funding last year, Dobelle said last night he believes there was an issue over the fund partly because a donor had reneged on a $100,000 gift promised to the fund over a five-year period.

In sum, the documents shed light on several areas of the Dobelle presidency, including how a 2003 poll ordered by Dobelle could be used politically, showing the comparative strengths and weaknesses of a number of politicians, and how the cost of renovation of the university president's official College Hill home spiraled $1 million over the original cost estimate.

But it was the findings in the final private audit of Dobelle's protocol fund ordered by regents that have been suggested as a cause for the board's action, although McCorriston said last night that "for people to make judgments on what was produced today is rather foolish."

The final audit of Dobelle's discretionary fund released yesterday was not appreciably different from a preliminary audit that The Advertiser reported on more than a month ago, noting it showed sloppy bookkeeping and inattention to detail.

While auditors questioned some of Dobelle's charges in the final document released yesterday, the protocol fund — made available to Dobelle from non-taxpayer dollars through the private UH Foundation — is one of the accepted perks of a university president. The money is intended to be used for travel, entertaining and other expenses incurred in the course of university business.

The auditors pointed to a continuing series of bookkeeping problems surrounding Dobelle's travel expenses, beginning almost from the time he assumed the presidency in July 2001.

In correspondence dated May 2004 with Dobelle's office staff, UH Foundation chief financial officer Bill King noted that a March 2003 credit card bill was the last one paid. He noted that payment for charges totaling $16,587, also from 2003, had to be put off till the next fiscal year.

In a May 18 letter to King, Blanchfield acknowledged ongoing problems in keeping all the paperwork straight, but said: "As I understand you recently said to President Dobelle in conversation, 'If anyone was looking for fraud, this is the farthest from it.'

Blanchfield resigned shortly before Dobelle was fired.

The exchanges took place while Blanchfield and King were struggling to answer questions posed by Deloitte and Touche auditors about Dobelle's protocol fund spending.

The audit did not pass judgment on whether the number of expenditures without receipts or documentation, as well as approximately $99,000 worth of "disallowed and questionable" charges made over three years, were enough to give regents cause to fire the president June 15.

The dispute was settled last week in a mediated agreement signed by both sides, with regents rescinding their "for cause" firing, and Dobelle agreeing to resign Aug. 14 to become a non-tenured faculty researcher.

The university also released two public opinion polls yesterday, paid for through the protocol fund, showing that Dobelle was interested in gathering intelligence on political and policy questions related to education.

A 2001 poll asked people to rate the quality of the university, community colleges, other colleges, the public schools and Kamehameha Schools. It also asked questions related to labor unions, recent teacher strikes, school financing and how likely people would be to contribute money to the university.

A 2003 poll covered similar ground on education and showed that researchers were also measuring the favorability ratings of several Hawai'i politicians and institutions since 2001, from Gov. Linda Lingle and U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye to Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris and the Bishop trust. Pollsters apparently added questions about former Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, The Honolulu Advertiser, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and others in 2003.

The poll also asked people identical questions about Lingle and Dobelle's job performance and anything they had done that was particularly good or bad. It also asked whether people favored breaking up the Department of Education into seven school districts, which is the main element of Lingle's education-reform plan.

The poll, by Opinion Dynamics Corp. of Cambridge, Mass., was conducted a few months after Dobelle endorsed Hirono over Lingle for governor.

Earlier Dobelle told The Advertiser the second survey would be used to "set priorities for the (fund-raising) campaign" for the university while the first was used to determine "what are the issues in Hawai'i ... and what was the reputation of the university."

He said he wanted to know what were important to people in Hawai'i — such things as a film school, a medical school, a football stadium — to give him guidance.

But the polls also provided information on the strengths and weaknesses of potential political allies and opponents.

Made available yesterday as well were hundreds of documents related to the $1.2 million renovation in 2001 of Dobelle's university-owned house and his office. The documents were first released to news reporters in late 2001, after the scope of the house renovation was greatly expanded and the price spiraled $1 million over the original cost estimate of about $200,000.

Included in the price tag was more than $100,000 paid by the University of Hawai'i Foundation for furnishings in the residence and a guesthouse.

Dobelle said in 2001 he would raise money from the private sector to repay the university for the costs of the renovation and work to establish an endowment to pay for future upkeep of the historical house, called College Hill. By the time the regents decided to terminate his employment contract, Dobelle had not raised money to pay for the renovations, nor had he established an endowment for College Hill.

Renovation and furnishing of Dobelle's office in Bachman Hall cost $73,000 more and those costs were paid initially by the Research Corporation of the University of Hawai'i, but were to be refunded by the university this year.

In detailing issues with the protocol fund, auditors listed "questioned or disallowed" charges, including:

• $38,174 in first- or business-class upgrades for airfares for people other than the president. UH Foundation policy pays for upgrades for the president only.

• Payment of $753 for a hotel room for his son in May 2002, first charged as a business expense and subsequently reclassified as a personal expense and reimbursed in May 2004.

• $4,109 for a first-class trip for Dobelle's wife to a conference at the University of MassachusettsiAmherst.