Finance Official Picked as Health, Welfare Secretary

Clifford L. Allenby, deputy director of the state Department of Finance, was nominated by Gov. George Deukmejian on Wednesday to be secretary of the Health and Welfare Agency.

If confirmed, Allenby, 50, would replace David B. Swoap in the cabinet-level post. Swoap left a year ago to re-enter the private sector. The agency undersecretary, James Stockdale, has been serving as interim secretary.

Began as Budget Analyst

A 1959 graduate of Humboldt State College, Allenby did graduate work at San Jose State University and at the Berkeley and Davis campuses of the University of California.

He joined the Department of Finance in 1963 as a budget analyst, and climbed the ladder to deputy director while serving under Govs. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, Ronald Reagan and Edmund G. Brown Jr. He declines to state a political party preference.

The nomination received a strong endorsement from Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles), who is chairman of the committee that recommends confirmation of appointments to the Senate.

“The governor’s appointment of Cliff Allenby as secretary of health and welfare is a good one,” Roberti said. “I’ve worked with Allenby for some time and found him to be very capable and a solid professional.”

In 1982, Allenby chaired a bipartisan task force that recommended improvements in the Medi-Cal program, several of which were adopted by the Legislature. In 1984, he received the American Society of Public Administrators’ award for outstanding public administrator.

The agency, one of nine at the cabinet level, manages 10 major departments that administer programs in such areas as health, welfare, Medi-Cal, alcohol and drug abuse, employment development and rehabilitation.

Aside from his job, Allenby is a board member of the Elk Grove Unified School District.

The job pays $87,552 a year and requires Senate confirmation.