Lingle's handpicked UH Regents fire Dobelle

[KamaAina]

Shameful. Truly shameful.

http://starbulletin.com/2004/06/16/news/index1.html

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....

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....

Dobelle has been criticized for politicizing the university by endorsing a (Democratic -Ed.) gubernatorial candidate; taking too much credit for higher enrollment and research and training fund increases; hiring former contacts for consultant contracts and top administrators; paying high salaries to top administrators; having a communications gap with the board on finances; and spending lavishly on travel.

So apparently endorsing Mazie Hirono (D-Very Lifelike) over Her Imperial Majesty Linda I now constitutes "moral turpitude". :grr:

The question has been raised, Who on Earth would want the job under these circumstances? Alas, the answer is "a right-wing ideologue who has no respect for academia": a Lynne Cheney clone. :scared:

I thought the repukes were gonna end patronage? Instead, two of the repuke appointments to the regents are repuke stalwart Kitty Lagareta, and Jane B. Tatibouet, whose husband Andre (the hotelier) is a bigtime repuke contributor.

Note that Lagareta's official bio:

http://www.hawaii.edu/admin/regents/#lagareta

makes no mention of so much as an undergrad degree, like the others' do. Does she even have one?

[KamaAina]

1. Lagareta update: Once worked for Hill & Knowlton

you remember them: the lying liars who orchestrated all that "Saddam ripped my baby right out of its incubator" crapola during the buildup to Oil War I under Poppy Bush.

Lagareta's firm, Communications Pacific, was once the local arm of Hill & Knowlton:

http://www.commpac.com/company-history.cfm

While Hill & Knowlton owned and operated CommPac, from 1993 until 1998, the company was known as Hill & Knowlton Hawaii. Like many businesses in Hawaii, CommPac downsized dramatically during the early to mid-1990s when Hawaii’s economy was among the weakest in the nation. In 1995, Hill & Knowlton recruited Kitty Lagareta to manage its Hawaii office. Kitty had worked for Clif and Rick at CommPac from 1986 until 1994. She left the company to pursue her own entrepreneurial efforts. Kitty was one of the founders of Hawaii Online, the state’s oldest and for years its largest Internet service provider (ISP). In 1995, Kitty and her partners sold Hawaii Online to a telecommunications company, and Kitty accepted the opportunity to manage Hill & Knowlton Hawaii.

Still no word on whether she holds a college degree, which is why I was poking around over there in the first place.

Edit: "my baby", not "muy baby", though I'm sure H&K did the campaign in Spanish as well :-)

[oasis]

2. thanks for the update. I'm stuck in Cal at the moment. (n/t)