Hee's committee rejected one interim member of the Board of Regents, John Kai, on Monday. Kai said he was asked to purchase tickets to the Hee fund-raiser but did not.

"I don't know what to make of it. I mean you can only surmise that it had to have some bearing," Kai said.

Hee, D-23rd (Kane'ohe, Kahuku), dismissed the suggestion that the contributions were a factor during the hearings.

"Any inference that the sale or lack thereof of a $25 donation in anyway impacted this week's decisions by the Higher Education Committee regarding pending Board of Regent nominees is without merit and an insult to those committee members and their staffs," Hee told the Senate.

Hee said the solicitations should not have happened. Any contributions from the regents will be returned immediately, he said.

"I take and accept full responsibility for the activities performed on behalf of my volunteers in their zeal to make the event a success," he said.

The volunteers have been admonished and "it will not happen again," Hee said.

He said the issue came to his attention in a report on the Internet site Hawaii Reporter.

According to the report, regents were recently asked to donate $25 to attend a fundraiser for Hee. The report says another nominee and interim appointee, Ramon S. de la Pena, purchased the tickets.

Board Chairwoman Patricia Lee said she was asked to donate.

"I put it aside. I myself am very apolitical," Lee said.

Lee said she had spoken with Kai about the tickets but not de la Pena.

Kai's nomination to the board was voted down by Hee's committee Tuesday. The nomination for de la Pena was approved. Both nominations must still go for a vote before the full Senate.

Kai, a Republican, called his two hearings before Hee's committee "a witch hunt."