The Firing of Evan Dobelle
Sightings from The Catbird Seat
~ o ~
May 21, 2005
Regents to Monitor Dobelle’s Research
By Craig Gima, Honolulu Star-Bulletin
University of Hawaii-Manoa Chancellor Peter Englert and the Board of Regents have a plan to monitor the progress of former UH President Evan Dobelle’s research project.
But they are not saying what it is.
The regents met behind closed doors yesterday to discuss the status of the project.
Afterward, Chairwoman Patricia Lee would say only that Englert had presented a plant to monitor the former president’s research, and “the board is comfortable with that plan.”...
Dobelle is being paid more than $125,000 a year for two years as part of the settlement that led to his resignation last summer.
But as the Star-Bulletin reported earlier this month, all Dobelle has turned in is a 1 ½ page outline of a book proposal.
Dobelle also did not sign a November letter to indicate agreement with Englert’s proposal to have the former president file quarterly reports on his progress beginning last December.
Rick Fried, Dobelle’s attorney, said Dobelle and Englert are “in sync” about the project.
“Everything’s fine. He (Dobelle) is going to do what he needs to do,” Fried said.
In January, Dobelle started another full-time job as president of the New England Board of Higher Education....
The regents fired Dobelle on June 15, then rescinded the firing. Dobelle resigned in August after a mediated settlement that paid him about $1 million is severance and his attorney fees, continued payments on a life insurance policy and provided for the two-year faculty position as a researcher. Dobelle also agreed to give up his right to tenure at the university....
< < < FLASHBACK < < <
June 16, 2004
DOBELLE FIRED
A UH regent announces that the school’s
president “no longer has our trust”
~ ~ ~
Dobelle is sacked “for cause,” which
means he won’t be paid $2.26 million
~ ~ ~
By Craig Gima, Honolulu Star-Bulletin
The University of Hawaii Board of Regents fired UH President Evan Dobelle “for cause” last night after a 12-hour meeting, much of it behind closed doors.
About 8:30 p.m., board Chairwoman Patricia Lee issued a statement saying: “Sadly, we have come to the realization that the president no longer has our trust, and there is no longer a unity of purpose between the board and the president or a clear recognition of his integrity, character, and commitment.”
The vote was unanimous, Lee said.
“This is the most difficult decision ever to be made by the regents,” she said. But she added that the board believes it is the “right decision at the right time.”
Vice President for Academic Affairs David McClain was named acting UH president, “effective immediately.”...
In a statement issued late last night, Gov. Linda Lingle said, “The Board of Regents’ decision reflects what it believes is in the best interest of the University of Hawaii system and its students.
“As additional information is made available by the board in the coming days, we will have a clearer understanding of the reasons for President Dobelle’s dismissal and what the university’s next steps are.”...
Regents would not say what the “cause” is for the president’s dismissal. But the phrase is important because if Dobelle is fired for cause, he will not get the $2.26 million buy-out of his contract.
Dobelle’s contract defines “cause” as either conviction for a felony offense; a determination by doctors that he is mentally unstable or otherwise unable to perform the duties of his office; or conduct that constitutes “moral turpitude*,” bringing public disrespect or ridicule upon the university.
Lee would not speculate about whether Dobelle’s termination will lead to a lawsuit. She referred questions about “cause” to UH Vice President for Legal Affairs Walter Kirimitsu....
www.starbulletin.com/2004/06/16/news/story1.html
~ ~ ~
* tur-pi-tude - n. baseness; vileness; depravity.
06/24/2004
Prominent political figure protests
his firing -- in Hawaii
By Don Michak , Journal Inquirer
A political figure prominent in Connecticut is forced from his state job after being accused of misusing an expense account to pay for personal items, hiring his cronies at big salaries, and treating his top aides to perquisites like first-class airfare upgrades and free tickets to a rock concert.
The official says he did nothing wrong and behaved no differently than any other executive in charge of a billion-dollar corporation, and his supporters contend he was done in by politics.
While that sounds very much like John G. Rowland, the three-term Republican governor who announced his resignation Monday, it's actually Evan S. Dobelle, the former Trinity College president, State Ethics Commission member, and Democratic National Committee treasurer.
Dobelle, 58, was fired from his $442,000-per-year job as president of the University of Hawaii last week after outside auditors questioned his spending from a $200,000 special "protocol fund."
Also caught up in the controversy are two Dobelle associates who followed him from Connecticut to Hawaii: Elizabeth "Betsy" Sloan, the former associate vice president for development at Trinity; and her husband, J.R.W. "Wick" Sloan, who had run a private investment firm in Massachusetts.
The same university regents who summarily dumped Dobelle "for cause" also ordered J.R.W. Sloan, whom Dobelle had installed as the school's chief financial officer and vice president for administration at an annual salary of $227,000, put on administrative leave without pay until Sloan's contract expires at the end of the year.
They had voted in December not to renew that contract, and several also had taken aim at Sloan's wife, the president of the University of Hawaii foundation.
Five months before Elizabeth Sloan's hiring as head of the charitable organization, Dobelle had used $10,000 from its special protocol fund to hire her to assess its performance....
After learning of his dismissal while escorting his son on a tour of mainland colleges -- a trip that also saw him make a brief stop in Hartford -- Dobelle said he was stunned by the regents' action and blasted his firing as "this rush to an inappropriate judgment."
He decried what he said was the "secret meeting" at which he was evaluated and terminated, saying the decision was "political" and "unbelievable."
Similarly, Dobelle's supporters have made much of his endorsement in a television commercial of the Democratic candidate in the 2002 race for governor in Hawaii, Mazie Hirono. Hirono was defeated by a Republican, Gov. Linda Lingle, who has appointed several of the state university's regents. Once Lingle became governor, they say, the regents began gunning for Dobelle.
Lingle has insisted "there is absolutely no relationship between what Even Dobelle did during the campaign and what the board of regents did," the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported last week.
The regents themselves have been mum on the exact reasons behind Dobelle's firing, except to say that he "no longer has our trust" and to confirm they had ordered the locks changed on Dobelle's offices.
Newspapers in Hawaii, however, have been full of reports about what would constitute a firing "for cause," which reportedly could deprive Dobelle of a $2.2 million severance payment.
Under Dobelle's contract, they say, he would have to have been convicted of a felony, suffer from mental instability, or exhibit "moral turpitude," bringing public disrespect, contempt, or ridicule upon the university.
The island press also has revealed that Dobelle's firing came just three months after an influential Democratic state legislator, K. Mark Takai, filed a complaint against Dobelle with the Hawaii State Ethics Commission.
The chairman of the Hawaii House Higher Education Committee, Takai questioned whether Dobelle's use of the University of Hawaii Foundation's protocol fund for "private school tuition payments, trips, hotel stays, dinners, etc." had to be publicly disclosed, despite the foundation's nonprofit tax status that "insulates" it from oversight by the state auditor.
He also asked whether trips provided Dobelle by the Molokai Chamber of Commerce, the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, and other "non-state entities" should have been declared as gifts by the college president.
Questions about Dobelle's dips into the protocol fund also were raised in a draft audit report on the foundation by an outside consulting company hired by the regents, Deloitte & Touche.
The audit shows "inattention to accounting detail regarding credit-card charges, including mix-ups of personal and business charges, with the foundation reimbursing both and adjusting payments later, and some missing receipts," The Honolulu Advertiser reported the day after Dobelle's dumping.
The audit also found the foundation had made payments without adequate supporting documentation, that some charges for meals or hotel rooms considered as business-related occurred on days "stated as personal," and that "a number" of first-class airfare upgrades were made for staff traveling with Dobelle, according to the newspaper.
The Advertiser said the auditors found that Dobelle had charged 16 airfare upgrades for people other than himself to the protocol fund, a $38,174 cost they categorized as "disallowed and questionable."
Altogether, they flagged $97,000 in Dobelle's charges over the past three years, which include the cost of parties and private club memberships.
News reports in Hawaii also revisited Dobelle's second-year evaluation by the regents, which sharply criticized his fund-raising efforts, "lavish spending," and "wholesale escalation of executive salaries."
The report had been confidential, but it was made public in April by the state Office of Information Practices. Dobelle has said the report was filled with "misinformation, misstatements, and mischaracterizations," according to The Associated Press.
Some newspapers also referred to a previous legislative audit that showed Dobelle used protocol fund money to take two dozen university donors and staff members to a Janet Jackson concert.
A few island columnists also have aimed barbs at Dobelle's lifestyle, with one sniping at his habit of wearing shoes without socks and his "sporty Porsche." Another resurrected a debate over the $1 million reported to have been spent renovating his Hawaii residence, which, according to The Associated Press, was roughly three times the amount planned.
The regents began their latest evaluation of Dobelle's performance in February. The review was reportedly headed by its vice chairwoman, Kitty Lagaretta, a key official in the gubernatorial campaign of Lingle.
Dobelle was appointed in Connecticut to the State Ethics Commission in 1996 by former House Speaker Thomas D. Ritter, now a lobbyist.
Dobelle resigned in January 1998 after Rowland assigned him to work on Hartford redevelopment.
For more, GO TO > > > A Connecticut Yankee in King Kamehameha’s Court
October 16, 2004
Details emerge on
UH public relations
deal in Dobelle ouster
A consultant was paid $275 an hour
for legal advice and strategies
By Craig Gima, Star-Bulletin
A law firm hired by the University of Hawaii Board of Regents released a partial list of services provided by a public relations consultant that led to an $89,743 bill in connection with the dismissal of former UH President Evan Dobelle.
Rick Zwern, a former boss of Board of Regents Vice-Chairwoman Kitty Lagareta, billed at a rate of $275 an hour for 294 hours of work between June 25 and Aug. 10. The rest of the bill went for taxes and expenses....
"All I know is, it's lower than my rate," said attorney Bill McCorriston, who hired Zwern after consulting with the regents and who charged the university $350 an hour for his legal services....
"I think it's consistent with top-rate public relations services. It's certainly not out of line," he said....
Zwern, who is also international training director for the public relations firm of Hill & Knowlton, also billed for work with Jim Jennings, a former Hill & Knowlton executive and former executive vice president of America's Promise, the national youth development organization begun by Colin Powell and current and former U.S. presidents in 1997.
The full bill for Zwern's and Jennings' services was not released.
In a written statement, McCorriston said that much of Zwern's services was related to his legal work for the university, which is protected from disclosure by attorney-client privilege.
The list released yesterday is for public relations activities for non-legal matters, McCorriston said.
The list includes media coverage review, research, developing communications strategy, drafting potential news media statements and planning and review for the release of documents after an OIP opinion that the public should have access to many of the documents and meeting minutes that led to Dobelle's dismissal.
He said Zwern consulted on public relations strategies for UH on Dobelle and the transition to a new president. Zwern also coordinated news media inquiries and managed public communications from the university regarding the mediation efforts, potential litigation, the settlement and Office of Information Practices issues.
Lagareta has said that while she participated in the discussion over hiring Zwern during a June 15 board meeting, she did not make the final decision and disclosed her relationship with him.
Zwern was a co-owner of Communications Pacific when Lagareta was hired in the late 1980s. Zwern and his partner sold the company in 1993 to Hill & Knowlton, and Lagareta and her partner bought the firm from Hill & Knowlton in 1998.
Lagareta said she hires Zwern as a vendor to provide training services at Communications Pacific. But she said Zwern has not had a financial interest in the company since 1994.
University general counsel Walter Kirimitsu also said he does not see a conflict since McCorriston hired Zwern and there is no financial relationship between Lagareta and Zwern.
http://starbulletin.com/2004/10/16/news/story7.html
July 2, 2004
Regents, Dobelle hire mediator
The parties also are to follow
a gag order during the mediation
By Craig Gima, Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Attorneys for the University of Hawaii Board of Regents and fired UH President Evan Dobelle have hired former state Attorney General Warren Price III as a “neutral mediator” to try to resolve differences out of court.
They also imposed a gag order on themselves. “During this period, public comments will not be made by any party or counsel for any party,” according to a joint statement issued yesterday....
Price, a partner in the firm Price Okamoto Himeno & Lum, was a state attorney general under Gov. John Waihee in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The regents unanimously fired Dobelle on June 15 “for cause.” The firing for cause denies Dobelle a $2.26 million severance pay.
Citing legal advice from their attorneys, the regents have not identified the “cause” for firing Dobelle....
Dobelle’s attorneys are researching a possible lawsuit against the university.
Yesterday’s statement does not give any indication about when the public will be able to find out why Dobelle was fired.
Tracey Wiltgen, executive director of the Mediation Center of the Pacific, said going into mediation is a “positive thing.”...
Mediation is “a huge savings in money,” she said. “Litigation takes a long time unless they can settle.”
Wiltgen said mediation is likely to last for several hours or days, compared with a court case that can drag on for months or years....
Money is often not the only issue, Wiltgen said.
Dobelle, for example, might want an apology or a public statement clearing his name, she said. The regents might want something from Dobelle saying they had a reason to fire him or assurances that he will no longer be involved with the university.
Settlements are sometimes confidential as well, Wiltgen said.
However, she said she believes public documents cannot be hidden through the mediation process.
“If something is actually a public document and should be available to the public, you can’t use mediation to hide it,” Wiltgen said.
“But you’d have to establish that it is in fact a document that the public is entitled to see.”
UH REGENT’S LAWYER
Barry W. Marr, Partner, Marr Hipp Jones & Wang; specializes in representing management in labor and employment law; adjunct professor at UH school of law; practicing attorney in Hawaii for more than 25 years.
THE MEDIATOR
Warren Price III, Partner, Price Okamoto Himeno & Lum; attorney general during Gov. John Waihee’s first term; practicing attorney in Hawaii since 1972.
DOBELLE’S LAWYER
L. Richard Fried Jr., Partner, Cronin Fried Sekiya Kekina & Fairbanks; was involved in more that 50 judgments and settlements over $1 million; Hawaii Trial Lawyer of the Year 1994; practicing attorney in Hawaii since 1969.
July 10, 2004
UH professor wants
Dobelle audit made public
By Craig Gima, Honolulu Star-Bulletin
A University of Hawaii journalism professor has asked the state Office of Information Practices to issue an opinion on whether this year’s evaluation of fired UH President Evan Dobelle and final audit of his protocol fund spending should be made public.
On Wednesday a university attorney denied a June 21 request by professor Beverly Keever to release the documents to the public.
“These records are public, and it’s not a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy,” Keever said. “The audit has nothing to do with personal privacy; it’s an accounting issue.”
But in a letter, UH associate general counsel Presley Pang wrote Keever, “It is the University of Hawaii’s position that all documents pertaining to the current evaluation and the decision to terminate President Dobelle are not subject to disclosure to members of the public at this time.”
Pang cited Dobelle’s request that the evaluation process be conducted in executive session, closed to the public; potential threatened legal action based on “purported violations of constitutional protection of his reputation”; and the ongoing mediation to resole the dispute between Dobelle and the regents over his firing.
“Because there are ongoing discussions, this matter of President Dobelle’s evaluation has not finally concluded, and the materials are considered pre-decisional, protected from public disclose under the frustration of legitimate government function (exemption to the open records law),” Pang wrote....
Yesterday, Keever appealed the university’s denial of records to OIP and asked the agency to expedite the request by hiring additional attorneys if necessary.
“Providing resources to address and resolve this urgent issue benefits the Lingle administration, the institutional reputation and image of the university and the goals of students, faculty and staff whose already inadequate resources are being drained by an expensive, time-consuming secret process to which the public is locked out,” Keever wrote.
OIP Director Les Kondo was out of the office yesterday and had not seen Keever’s request.
He said his office will be asking the university to review copies of the documents and for further explanation of why access is being denied.
Keever said she is afraid the public might never find out why Dobelle was fired, especially if a settlement reached in mediation includes keeping documents confidential.
“Basically, the idea is to hold the parties accountable. They are covering up the elements of the decision-making. The decision-making has cost the university big bucks and a big cloud over its reputation,” Keever said.
“It seems to me as though they are dragging their feet in resolving this. The more they drag their feet, the more the public loses out and UH loses out,” she added.
“I don’t know if I can really comment on that (whether the documents may remain secret),” Pang said....
(Catbird note: Beverly Keever’s e-mail address is bkeever@hawaii.edu)
~ ~ ~
Regents plan closed-door meeting
The Board of Regents has scheduled a closed-door meeting Thursday morning to discuss the status of mediation with fired University of Hawaii President Evan Dobelle.
Regents are scheduled to consult with their attorney on “mediation, settlement issues and other matters related to claims by Dr. Evan S. Dobelle.”
The notice also includes, “discussions, deliberations, and decision-making regarding mediated settlement of Dr. Dobelle’s claims, if necessary.”...
Because of an agreement not to talk about the mediation, regents’ attorney Barry Marr had no comment about whether a mediated settlement was in the works and could not elaborate on the written notice.
www.starbulletin.com/2004/07/10/news/story6.html
July 25, 2004
The Dobelle Debacle
The secrecy surrounding Evan Dobelle’s
interrupted tenure as UH president has done
great harm to Hawaii’s public university
By Beverly Ann Deepe Keever
Special to the Star-Bulletin
The hiring and surprise firing of University of Hawaii President Evan Dobelle expose the high price and great perils of secret government decision-making in Hawaii.
In a textbook example of a counter-productive public policy, the Dobelle debacle demonstrates that unwarranted secrecy in Hawaii’s government does not pay. A key lesson learned is that secrecy breeds a lose-lose policy for citizens – who are often called upon to foot the bill – as well as government officials on all sides of a divisive issue and even Gov. Linda Lingle, who has pledged to restore public trust in government.
With the public locked out of knowing why official decisions are being made, secrecy fosters rumors and leaks of information.
Unwarranted secrecy works to the advantage of insiders and to the disadvantage of the most disadvantaged segments of society. And, in the Dobelle case, the Board of Regents’ decision-making, cloaked in secrecy, has tarnished incalculably the image nationally and globally of Hawaii’s only public institution of higher education.
The spiral of secrecy that augured the Dobelle debacle began in early 2001 when the UH Board of Regents met in a series of unannounced, closed-door meetings and agreed to a lucrative contract with Dobelle.
On March 9, 2001, Lily Yao, then-chairwoman of the Board of Regents, signed Dobelle to a contract paying him at least $3 million over seven years and giving him residency in the state-owned mansion near the Manoa campus, use of a state car and a number of other perks.
His first-year salary of $442,000 was more than double that of outgoing President Kenneth Mortimer and four times that of the governor. This multimillion-dollar commitment was agreed to just as the board was raising student tuition and Gov. Ben Cayetano was arguing that the state was too impoverished to increase faculty pay enough to forestall a strike that eventually did occur.
Contesting the secret negotiations that led to such an expenditure of taxpayer monies were graduate student Mamo Kim and Hawaii chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), who filed a lawsuit in Hawaii’s First Circuit Court. They argued that this secrecy violated Hawaii’s “Sunshine Law” requiring open meetings of public agencies, except in specific cases permitting closure. This “Sunshine Law” was passed by the Legislature in 1975 in the wake of the Watergate scandal so that opening up closed doors of government would allow in sunshine that acts as a disinfectant to reduce mismanagement and even illegal or unethical decisions.
Unfortunately, graduate student Kim and SPJ lost the case. Circuit Court Judge Virginia Crandall OK’d the board’s practice of recessing one closed-door meeting in order to hold another unannounced closed-door meeting without the public and the news media even being aware that the board was meeting or what it was meeting about.
Also unfortunate, the board’s secret decision-making on Dobelle’s high-priced and lengthy contract sent the wrong signal to the incoming president that money was no object at UH. Dobelle assumed the presidency on July 1, 2001, just 72 days before the spectacular attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon sent Hawaii’s struggling tourist-based economy into an even steeper nose dive.
The rest is history – and a lot of news stories. Dobelle brought in his own management team from the East Coast, paying members up to twice the salaries of the veterans they replaced. He recommended – and the board agreed – to pay double his own salary to UH’s head football coach June Jones. And Dobelle racked up a tremendous cost overrun in refurbishing his state-owned residence.
Dobelle’s public aura of extravagance was magnified by his driving around campus in his pricy Porsche, rather than the state car, and buying a million-dollar-plus home while he was living rent-free in the president’s mansion, College Hill....
The spiral of secrecy continued. In March of this year, the board was reprimanded by another state agency – the Office of Information Practices – for the way it conducted secret meetings to evaluate Dobelle’s performance.
Then, on June 15, while Dobelle was on the mainland, the board announced that he was fired – and fired “for cause.” Those two little words were a significant way to avoid paying to Dobelle for the last four years of his contract ... The surprise decision – and the board’s secrecy about the “for cause” rationale – sparked news worldwide.
Now, still refusing to explain its “for cause” decision, the board and Dobelle are holding secret mediation sessions. The board has hired at least three private high-priced attorneys to supplement UH’s permanent legal staff to represent it. A mediator, former Attorney General Warren Price, also has been hired.
Mediation is described as a less expensive alternative to a lawsuit. But even if it succeeds, it is costing Hawaii’s taxpayers plenty. And secret mediation sessions continue to keep the public in the dark while open court sessions would have been excruciatingly revealing....
The Dobelle debacle may provide for decades to come a case study in why more needs to be invested in resources that promote inclusiveness and openness, which are essential for restoring public trust in government.
www.starbulletin.com/2004/07/25/editorial/special.html
~ ~ ~
For more on Warren Price, GO TO > > > RICO in Paradise
July 30, 2004
Dobelle and regents settle
Agreements rescind the ousted UH president’s firing
for cause in exchange for his resignation
by Craig Gima, Star-Bulletin
The University of Hawaii regents and Evan Dobelle agreed to a mediated settlement that will pay the ousted president $1.05 million, give him a $125,000-a-year faculty position for two years and pay his attorney fees.
Under two agreements signed yesterday, the Board of Regents will rescind Dobelle’s firing for cause on June 15, and Dobelle will resign as UH president on Aug. 14.
Both sides agreed that there was no wrongdoing by Dobelle or the regents and that they will not sue each other.
In a joint statement with mediator Warren Price III, Dobelle and the regents said, “While there is sure to be public and media speculation and comment about this resolution, it is time to place the university and community first and to look to the future.”
The regents unanimously approved the settlement at a closed-door meeting yesterday afternoon after meeting with their attorneys....
Dobelle, who is at the Democratic National Convention in Boston, said he will be staying in Hawaii....
Under the agreement, Dobelle will work in the urban planning department at UH-Manoa. He will work on a special project to be determined my Dobelle and Chancellor Peter Englert.
The nontenured faculty position will end after two years, and Dobelle will get collective bargaining raises.
The university also will continue to make $40,000-a-year payments for the next six years on a $2 million whole life insurance policy. The policy was started while Dobelle was at Trinity College and, as part of his contract, continued during his employment at UH.
UH and Trinity will be reimbursed $400,000 for their payments to the insurance company when the policy is cashed in or a death benefit is paid.
Dobelle’s attorneys, Cronin Fried Sekiya Kekina & Fairbanks, also will be paid $290,000.
“This is a win for everyone, and everyone can move forward,” said Dobelle’s attorney Rick Fried....
Regents attorney Barry Marr said, “It’s a good settlement.”...
www.starbulletin.com/2004/07/30/news/story1.html
~ ~ ~
For more on Arbitration/Mediation, GO TO > > > Arbitrate This!
September 25, 2004
Dobelle legal costs hit $1M
By Vicki Viotti, Honolulu Advertiser
The ouster of former University of Hawaii President Evan Dobelle will cost the university about $1 million in fees from lawyers hired by the Board of Regents to negotiate a settlement and fees for his attorneys, university records show.
And while university officials are still haggling over how much the settlement will finally cost taxpayers, several said yesterday that the legal bill is less than what it would have cost to buy out Dobelle.
The bill, which includes $290,000 paid to Dobelle’s legal team, and an estimated $750,000 due to UH lawyers, enabled the university to avoid at least $4.5 million that would have been paid if Dobelle had been fired without cause and his contract paid off, regent Kitty Lagareta said.
Officials involved in negotiating Dobelle’s exit package said yesterday that talks are ongoing with the UH carrier, National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburg [a member company of American International Group, Inc.], in hopes that the policy will cover most or all of the costs, including legal bills....
Rick Fried, Dobelle’s lead attorney, said yesterday that the university should include Dobelle’s life insurance death benefit of $1.6 million and other costs in its calculations and would have done better if it had simply paid off his contract.
“This trying to terminate ‘with cause’ not only has created an incredible stir at the university but they’ve ended up having to pay more money, and in addition to paying Evan they have to pay another university president,” Fried said.
However, that assessment was countered by William McCorriston, whose firm McCorriston Miller Mukai MacKinnon headed the UH legal team. McCorriston said that, in addition to the central contract with about $2.2 million payable, the buyout would have included several side agreements for a grand total of about $4.5 million....
Viewed through this lens, McCorriston said, the July settlement plus the legal bills that came later would bring costs to about $2.3 million.
“For me, we paid less than 50 cents on the dollar to get this guy to resign,” McCorriston said.
Kitty Lagareta, vice chairwoman for the Board of Regents, agreed.
“The point for us is, we got out of this thing for $2.5 million; I’m thrilled,” Lagareta said. “It’s over. “We think our lawyers did a great job and earned every cent.”...
Lagareta said university general counsel Walter Kirimitsu had been collecting the bills that already arrived – about $650,000 – and yesterday informed regents and UH officials that about $100,000 more are expected....
McCorriston said his firm’s bill also includes fees for professional services such as a forensic audit of Dobelle’s financial records, public relations services for communications with news media, and private investigation services to locate a witness.
State Rep. Mark Takai, D-34th (Pearl City, Newtown, Royal Summit), the House Higher Education Committee chairman, said UH has turned a corner in a difficult ordeal....
~ ~ ~
FEES BILLED
McCorriston Miller Mukai MacKinnon LLP *(legal services) $291,080.83
Marr Hipp Jones & Wang* (legal services) $185,105.81
QSR-Pacific, Inc. (public relations) $89,742.81
The Law Offices of Jerry M. Hiatt (legal services) $46,348.49
Candon Consulting Group LLC (forensic auditing) $38,194.17
Investigative Services Worldwide (private investigation) $685.00
SUBTOTAL $651,157.11
Dobelle’s attorney fees, paid as part of 7/29 settlement $290,000.00
TOTAL $941,157.11
* For another McCorriston Miller Mukai MacKinnon case, GO TO > > > Dirty Money, Dirty Politics & Bishop Estate
* For another Marr Hipp case, GO TO > > > RICO in Paradise
October 23, 2004
Dobelle returning to New England
A nonprofit agency overlooks his clash
with UH when he was president
Associated Press, Star-Bulletin
HARTFORD, Conn. - Former University of Hawaii president Evan Dobelle is expected to return to New England to take a job leading a Boston-based nonprofit agency that supports higher education.
Dobelle, the former president of Trinity College, is expected to be named next month as president of the New England Board of Higher Education....
Dobelle, 59, was fired by the University of Hawaii’s Board of Regents “for cause” in June. After Dobelle threatened to sue, both sides reached a settlement on July 29, under which the regents rescinded their action and Dobelle agreed to resign and take a faculty position for two years.
UH officials said it’s unclear what will happen to Dobelle’s research, which was being conducted under the Department of Urban and Regional Planning.
Under his deal with the board, Dobelle was set to earn about $125,000 annually for two years as a nontenured researcher.
Carole A Cowan, head of the search committee for the New England board, said such clashes have happened before in higher education and added that the committee was impressed with Dobelle’s credentials....
Dobelle will replace Robert A. Weygand, a former U.S. representative and lieutenant governor from Rhode Island, who left earlier this year to become a vice president at the University of Rhode Island....
June 17, 2004
ALBANO SWORN IN AS UH REGENT
From http://maui.unclewebster.com
More than 150 Oahu residents were officially sworn in to serve on the state’s various boards and commissions Thursday....
Among those sworn in to office yesterday was Andres Albano Junior – the newest member of the University of Hawaii Board of Regents.
Albano joins the regents at a time when the panel is embroiled in the fallout from their controversial move to fire university’s president Evan Dobelle.
Albano who is the vice president of commercial real estate firm C-B Richard Ellis was approved to a four-year term.
< < < FLASHBACK < < <
November 3, 2003
Former Congresswoman Saiki, Three Others Appointed to East-West Center Board
East-West Center News Release
HONOLULU - Patricia F. Saiki, former Hawaii congressional representative, has been appointed to a three-year term on the East-West Center’s Board of Governors by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Also appointed were former Sen. William V. Roth Jr. of Delaware; Tai-Young Lee, president of PTC International, Inc., a marketing firm in Baltimore, Maryland; and Albert C. Chang of San Francisco, president of Eastern Sea, Inc.
Saiki was elected to Congress in 1986 and again in 1988, representing the 1st Congressional District of Hawaii. She served as a member of the Committees on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs; and Merchant Marine and Fisheries. She also was a member of the Select Committee on Aging. From 1991-1993, Saiki was appointed by the president as administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration....
The EWC board also includes five members appointed by the governor of Hawaii. They are Roland Lagareta, client services at Morgan Stanley and interim chair of the EWC Board; Lyn Flanigan Anzai, executive director of the Hawaii State Bar Association and interim vice chair of the EWC Board; Joan Bickson; Eddie Flores Jr., president of L&L Drive Inn; and Miriam Hellreich, president of Speech & Pathology Associates. Puongpun Sananikone, president of PACMAR, Inc., serves as the governor’s designee....
Ex-officio members are Gov. Linda Lingle; Patricia Harrison, assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs, U.S. Department of State; and Evan Dobelle, president of the University of Hawaii.
~ ~ ~
For more financial and political connections between CB Richard Ellis;
Kamehameha Schools, and the University of Hawaii, GO TO > > >
The Nests of CB Richard Ellis; Dirty Money, Dirty Politics & Bishop Estate -
Part IV; How To Pluck A Billionaire; Kajima; Paradise Paved
June 17, 2004
Former Trinity President Fired
Dobelle Ousted From Hawaii Job
By Robert A. Frahm, Hartford Courant
HONOLULU - Evan S. Dobelle, the former Trinity College president who made the school a national model among urban colleges, has been fired for unspecified reasons as president of the University of Hawaii....
Dobelle, 58, went to Hawaii in 2001 after seven years as president at Trinity. At Trinity, he became one of Hartford’s most influential and recognizable figures and raised Trinity’s profile by making the college a key partner in an ambitious, $250 million neighborhood redevelopment project.
The centerpiece of that project is the $110 million Learning Corridor, a complex of public schools adjacent to the Trinity campus.
At Hawaii, however, the regents’ fiscal year 2002-03 evaluation criticized Dobelle’s performance in several areas, including fiscal management and fund-raising efforts.
It faulted him for establishing a film school* without notifying the board, and failing to follow through on promises to raise faculty salaries, among other concerns....
*See also: Elizabeth Lindsey Buyers
< < < FLASHBACK < < <
July 31, 1997
Learning Corridor Groundbreaking Celebrates
Promise of Neighborhood Renewal
Hartford, Conn., July 31, 1997 – Governor John Rowland joined Hartford Mayor Mike Peters and hundreds of others today for a groundbreaking celebration on the site where three new educational facilities and related child- and family-support facilities will be constructed as part of a community-based urban renewal strategy in the Frog Hollow/Barry Square neighborhoods of Hartford.
The Learning Center is the centerpiece of a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization initiative spearheaded by Trinity College and its partners in the Southside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance (SINA) – Hartford Hospital, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, the Institute for Living, and Connecticut Public Television and Radio....
The neighborhood revitalization initiative is supported by the State of Connecticut, the City of Hartford, the federal government, corporations and foundations, and local residents and community organizations. A total of over $100 million has been firmly committed – $79 million in state funding, $6.75 million from the City of Hartford, $1.8 million in assistance from the federal government, $10 million from the SINA member institutions themselves, and over $3 million in support from corporations and foundations. In addition, significant federal funds have been pledged in support of home ownership and economic development initiatives.
“This celebration is not just about renewing neighborhoods. It is about building community and restoring hope and confidence in a city that enjoys not only a proud past but also a promising future,” said Trinity College President Evan S. Dobelle, who served as master of ceremonies at today’s groundbreaking....
April 22, 2002
UH foresees neighborhood development
by Terrence Sing, Pacific Business News
The idea of creating a college town surrounding the University of Hawaii is not new, but it’s one UH President Evan Dobelle is making one of his top economic development priorities....
The college-town area would run approximately from Dole Street down to King Street and could be several blocks deep on either side of this corridor, Sidener said....
“Elsewhere in the country, high-quality master-planned university centers are thriving ... tangible results for the key sponsors, the university, large landowners and the city, must emerge within the first two years of the inauguration of the champion [i.e., Dobelle],” the institute letter said....
Much will depend on interest and cooperation of the landowners, Dobelle acknowledges. Much of the property in the Moiliili area is owned by Kamehameha Schools, Dobelle said.
“Obviously, no one is in the business to lose or break even on an economic proposition, but there is a necessity to have an enormous upside to [the concept],” he said.
The university has discussed the college-town concept with Kamehameha Schools only in general terms, Dobelle added....
August 16, 2002
Land owner leads move on Moiliili
Dobelle’s UH ‘college town’ concept advances