Type “Evan Dobelle” into any Internet search engine and you get about 93,000 results for the embattled – now suspended – Westfield State University president. Add in “Hawaii” and you still get more than 33,000 returns; narrow it further by adding “spending” and it still exceeds more than 14,000 hits. For the heck of it, type in “lavish” and it stays about the same. And the majority of the results predate Dobelle’s hiring in 2007 at Westfield.
So it seems reasonable to ask: Did they know about Google in Western Massachusetts before the school’s trustees voted to hire Dobelle, a former mayor of Pittsfield and a polarizing figure in higher education throughout his career.
The trustees voted yesterday to place Dobelle on paid administrative leave while they review allegations about his spending of university funds and using a related school foundation’s credit card for personal expenses and an extravagant trip without reimbursement or explanation. The action comes several days after the school’s faculty voted “no confidence” in the supremely confident administrator and nearly two months after the Boston Globe ran a story of a report requested by several individual members of the board of trustees that said many of Dobelle’s expenditures were highly questionable.
But all of this has a feeling of déjà vu. As president of the University of Hawaii, Dobelle was forced out in 2004 for – here’s that word again – lavish spending and using school funds for personal expenses. In one instance, Dobelle was accused of redirecting a portion of a $25,000 donation for a lectureship to make a video when he was honored by the Sales and Marketing Executives of Hawaii. He started reimbursing some of the expenses after an audit was launched, blaming the problems on clerical errors. It is the same reason he gave for some of the expenses that Massachusetts officials, including the inspector general and higher education commissioner, have cited. Attorney General Martha Coakley has also launched an investigation to determine if there are criminal charges that should be brought.
But why weren’t Dobelle’s experiences a red flag for those doing the hiring at Westfield in 2007? Dobelle was initially fired by regents in Hawaii “for cause” but allowed to work out a mediated settlement that, while relieving him of the presidency, resulted in a nearly $1 million payout and gave him a teaching post, which he eventually left to take over as president of the New England Board of Higher Education.
Despite the fact the settlement was negotiated behind closed doors, there were volumes written about Dobelle’s transgressions as well as some regents’ views of their then-president. “His dishonesty and lying are most troubling,” chairwoman Patricia Lee said, according to the minutes of a June, 2004, board of regents meeting.
Jan Asnicar, vice president at EFL Associates, the search firm Westfield used to find Dobelle in 2007, tells the trade website InsideHigherEd.com that nothing was hidden when Dobelle’s name went before trustees.
“I know the university was well-apprised of it and that they went into the whole hiring situation with full knowledge,” Asnicar said. “My recollection is that they did extensive digging into Evan’s past and looked to make sure they felt comfortable with what they learned at the University of Hawaii.”
Dobelle’s publicist, George Regan, called the suspension “unlawful” and the allegations “defaming.” He repeated the charge that the investigations have been spurred by the board of trustees chairman Jack Flynn, a state trooper who Regan alleges has clashed with Dobelle because the president resisted Flynn’s push to turn the school into a “diploma mill” for state police.
Regan says Dobelle is planning to file a federal lawsuit against the school, trustees, and anyone else involved in the “egregious” violations of Dobelle’s rights. Sort of like Dobelle did in Hawaii in 2004, which got him his settlement then. Didn’t see that one coming, did you?
–JACK SULLIVAN
NEW ISSUE OF COMMONWEALTH
Read reports on the inability of blacks and Hispanics to crack the Boston power structure , the James Michael Curley-like run of Mayor William Lantigua in Lawrence, one of the forces behind the successful buildout of Kendall Square , and the Xs and Os guy behind UMass football. These stories and more in the new issue .
BEACON HILL
The uncertainties surrounding Sen. Dan Wolfe have brought the plans of others seeking to move up the political ladder to a halt.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
The rush of project approvals at the Boston Redevelopment Authority continues , as developers look to lock in permits before the change in administrations.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
The shutdown is over, as Congressional Republicans finally relent, with nothing to show for it other than “putting hundreds of thousands of federal workers on furlough and watching their own poll numbers plunge,” reports the Globe . The deal that was agreed to is only short-term , however, so we could soon see more of the same DC antics. US Sen. Elizabeth Warren sees nothing to celebrate . The shutdown has put the once-solid marriage of big business and the Republican Party on the rocks . Economists put the economic cost of the shutdown in the billions of dollars . Karl Rove argues that the Ted Cruz wing of the GOP “walked into Obama ’s trap” and discredited themselves ahead of the 2014 midterms, while the Wall Street Journal editorial page piles on the Texas senator. “The only things Republicans achieved,” a New York Times editorial argues , “were billions of dollars in damage to the economy, harm to the nation’s reputation and a rock-bottom public approval rating.”
ELECTIONS
Charlie Baker lightens up .
The Globe ’s Mark Arsenault reports on John Connolly ’s three years as a teacher, experience Connolly cites as key to informing his commitment to education reform issues.
CommonWealth political watchers weigh in on the first mayoral debate, with Paul McMorrow pointing to the difficulty of running on legislative record in an era of top-down control on Beacon Hill, and Michael Jonas writing that the debate highlighted Marty Walsh ’s union background, which is both his curse and blessing.
Walsh wins the endorsement of fellow Dorchester legislator Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry . The Bay State Banner endorses Connolly based the paper’s belief that he will stand up to union members and explores how both candidates are seeking African American and Latino support. The South End News also endorses Connolly . Amidst the questioning of outsize union clout in the mayor’s race, Joan Vennochi asks where’s the outrage — from either John Connolly or Marty Walsh — over corporate tax giveaways the city has made. Connolly reports a huge fundraising haul from early October. George Bachrach and the Environmental League of Massachusetts wade in to the mayor’s race.
James Aloisi, in the latest CommonWealth installment of his series on pivotal past mayoral races in Boston, explains the rise of Louise Day Hicks.
Methuen Mayor Stephen Zanni suggests his opponent, Jennifer Kannan , would not be able to ethically negotiate contracts with four municipal unions because four of her children and relatives work for those unions, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
Bristol County DA Sam Sutter decides against running for attorney general. Rep. Harold Naughton , who had been eyeing a run for lieutenant governor, is now considering jumping into the AG race; the Herald also floats the names of Sen. Eileen Donoghue and former senator Warren Tolman as possible candidates.
Congressional hopeful Seth Moulton raised more money than incumbent US Rep. John Tierney over the summer, the Salem News reports.
Challenger William Carpenterput Brockton Mayor Linda Balzotti on the defensive during last night’s heated debate over a range of issues from the spike in violent crime in the city to the mayor’s opposition to a gas-fired power plant.
Anthony Weiner calls himself an “empty, soulless vessel” in a GQ profile, adding that although he could not care less what you think about him, his spectacular downfall has been difficult on his wife, Huma Abedin .
Cory Booker wins the special Senate election in New Jersey ; he’ll be back on the campaign trail next fall, looking for a full six-year term.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Apple ’s cheap iPhone stumbles .
The New York Times sketches a development agenda for New York ’s next mayor.
EDUCATION
In the new Fall issue of CommonWealth , Michael Jonas looks at the rocky road that Boston’s Renaissance Charter School has had.
HEALTH CARE
Paul Levy calls attention to an editorial and a government report that counters the perception that most medical malpractice actions are against hospitals and their physicians.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Siting wind turbines remains controversial, but more electricity is being generated through distributed wind — wind energy projects in other states.
Union workers at the Brayton Station power plant , slated to be shut down by its owners in 2017, urged Somerset selectmen to help find a way to keep the coal-fired plant open .
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Area police have formed a task force to try to stop a spree of robberies at Dunkin’ Donuts around the state, where 22 hold-ups have occurred at the coffee shops since March, and the Canton-based chain has quadrupled its reward to $10,000 to catch the bandits.
Anti-gun activists discuss how guns get from northern New England to Massachusetts and how to stem the rising tide of gun-related violence in the Bay State.
Curry College in Milton fired one of its public safety officers after he was charged with home invasion in Marshfield and threatening a woman he knew in the house with his police baton and a handgun.
Former Patriots wide receiver-turned minister Irving Fryar and his mother have been charged with mortgage fraud in New Jersey.
