Panel Delays Naming Coastal Commissioner

The Senate Rules Committee, meeting behind closed doors, Tuesday delayed action until January on a controversial appointment to the state Coastal Commission after casting a 2-2 tie vote on two candidates.

Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) declined to say who voted for reappointment of Baldwin Park City Councilman Leo W. King and who voted for appointment of Huntington Beach City Councilman Peter Green to replace King.

Roberti also declined to identify who on the five-member Senate panel abstained on the vote. “You’ll have to figure it out,” the Senate leader told reporters. “They are both very fine candidates.”

During an open part of the hearing, King was criticized by representatives of the Sierra Club, the Planning and Conservation League and the National Resources Defense Council for allegedly being too pro-oil and pro-development.

One of the Best Commissioners

But King was defended by Roger Osenbaugh, a former coastal commissioner, as being one of the best and fairest commissioners ever to sit on the panel.

The environmentalists backed Green, who spoke in his own behalf. King did not attend the committee meeting.

Coastal Commission members receive per diem and necessary expenses.

King has served on the commission since 1982 at the pleasure of the Senate. His term expired last January.

Asked if it were possible that a third candidate might be named to the commission instead of King or Green, Roberti said: “That’s always possible. I’m pretty confident this will be resolved in January. We have to get this thing behind us.”