Hawaii Ethics Commission Reviewing UH Travel Policy

About their review of UH's travel policy, HEC Director Dan Mollway said:
"In general, I think it is basically fair to say we will not only be (looking) at children. Everybody who went is a matter for potential review." (HA)

About how children traveling on state business had not come up previously while he was with the HEC, Mollway said:
"And, I've been with the ethics commission now close to 27 years." (HA)

HA Note: "In December, after UH was picked for the Sugar Bowl and a travel policy was formulated, the Ethics Commission notified UH, questions were raised, "... about whether members of the Board of Regents or other officials of the university, who may justifiably receive a Sugar Bowl ticket, may also receive tickets for a spouse, a guest or children as well as payment of travel expenses for these individuals." In addition, the commission told UH at the time, "... there is a concern of preferential access to Sugar Bowl tickets, and that travel costs may be paid for certain spouses, significant others and children." Soon after, Mollway said, a meeting was held with UH officials to address the concerns. He said the commission was assured the group would be made up of people necessary for the school to fulfill its commitments. The review, he said, would look at how the travel parties were assembled in light of those discussions."

About how there is no timetable for their review, Mollway said:
"It is really hard to say (how long it could take). It could take a month, at least a month. Maybe a few months." (HA)

Ferd wrote in HA: "You sense that Donovan, who played, coached and worked at UH in a variety of capacities over nearly a quarter-century, desperately wants to rebuild public confidence and community trust in the place as well as win games and balance budgets. Maybe he wants to show his bosses he can be a team player as he has asked his own staff to be. Perhaps he hopes to lead by example, a commendable and all-too-rare trait, to be sure.

But his willingness to dive under the bus, whether on command or of his own initiative, has allowed the culpable parties to go on their merry way with little in the way of assurances the same mistakes won't be made again by the same people. There has been, for example, no public accounting of how UH's athletic bank account got so separated from reality. We've heard little from those who were supposed to be watching the checkbook from above.

Nor has there been an explanation from on high about why the university felt the need to run so many dodges over the nearly three months before it began to come clean on opening public records. Was it the general counsel's call? The Manoa Chancellor's? Or, a combination thereof? We do know it wasn't Donovan's, even if his are the only lips that are moving when the subject comes up."