Ethics panel rules Dobelle failed to report gifts
By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
Former University of Hawai'i president Evan Dobelle should have disclosed two paid trips and money he received from a $200,000-a-year protocol fund as gifts, the Hawai'i State Ethics Commission has ruled.
An informal advisory opinion, issued in late November and made public yesterday, found that Dobelle should have disclosed a 2001 trip to Japan paid for by the Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau and a 2001 trip to Moloka'i paid for by the Moloka'i Chamber of Commerce as gifts on his annual gifts disclosure statements. Dobelle also should have reported money from a protocol fund from the nonprofit University of Hawai'i Foundation.
Dobelle
The university's general counsel had advised Dobelle that he did not have to report expenses from the protocol fund as gifts. The UH Board of Regents and some state lawmakers had questioned Dobelle's use of the fund, which was a factor in Dobelle's initial firing and subsequent settlement that led to his resignation last summer.
The state's gifts disclosure law requires lawmakers and state employees to report gifts over $200 from sources that have interests in state policy. Gifts are considered anything of value, such as money, goods, services or paid travel.
Dobelle, a paid UH researcher who has taken a new job as president and chief executive of the New England Board of Higher Education, never reported a gift as president. Dobelle's staff and attorney have argued that money from the protocol fund was for legitimate state purposes that did not personally benefit Dobelle and should not be classified as gifts. The trip to Japan was part of then-Gov. Benjamin Cayetano's mission to promote tourism in Hawai'i after 9/11 and Dobelle maintained that he had no authority over the Moloka'i chamber.
"He was told that these were things that didn't need to be disclosed," said Rick Fried, Dobelle's attorney.
State Rep. K. Mark Takai, D-34th (Pearl City, Newtown, Royal Summit), filed an ethics complaint against Dobelle in March and asked the commission in October for an opinion on how the law applies to UH administrators and employees.
Under ethics commission rules, the advisory opinion made public yesterday did not mention Dobelle or the organizations involved, but Fried and Takai confirmed that it referred to Dobelle. Dobelle has been asked to amend his gift-disclosure statements for 2002 and 2003 and file a statement for 2004. The commission also noted that any other gifts not covered by the complaint should be disclosed.
The commission, in a separate opinion in mid-November, ruled that UH administrators, like other state employees, must disclose gifts over $200. Commissioners also ruled that gifts over $200 from the UH Foundation, which is distinct from the university, must be disclosed.
"There is no question now, I believe, about what we felt all along. The expenses from the protocol fund should have been disclosed as gifts," said Takai, who was Dobelle's most vocal critic at the Legislature. "I think the law is very clear."
Takai praised interim UH president David McClain for filing a detailed gifts disclosure statement this year that included gifts well under $200, including $15 worth of Girl Scout cookies and $60 for tickets to the Sony Open golf tournament.
Kristen Bonilla, a UH spokeswoman, said the university's general counsel's office considered the matter between Dobelle and the ethics commission confidential and would not comment. Patricia Lee, the chairwoman of the Board of Regents, also declined to comment.
Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
