Panel Refuses to Confirm DMV Chief After Probe

The Senate Rules Committee, unable to reconcile conflicting sworn testimony over whether state Department of Motor Vehicles Director Adelbert A. Pierce once joked about shooting homosexuals with a machine gun, refused Wednesday to approve his confirmation for the post.

Committee members expressed frustration at the contradictory testimony of witnesses but indicated that another vote on Pierce could occur in the next couple of weeks, after lawmakers give the issue further thought.

Although the Democrat-dominated committee on occasion sank nominees of Gov. George Deukmejian during the Republican governor’s first term, the Pierce action represents the first time a gubernatorial appointee had been rejected in his second term.

Two Republicans, Sens. William A. Craven of Oceanside and John Doolittle of Citrus Heights, voted to recommend Pierce’s confirmation to the full Senate. But the three Democratic members, Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti of Los Angeles, Nicholas C. Petris of Oakland and Henry J. Mello of Watsonville, refused to vote. It takes at least three affirmative votes to win committee approval.

The Democrats readily confessed that they were unable to sort out the contradictions of witnesses, who underwent the unusual step of testifying under oath. “This is a very difficult call,” Roberti said.

For his part, Pierce, who can remain director of the DMV without Senate confirmation until Feb. 13, denied he ever--even jokingly--suggested using a machine gun on homosexuals. “To the best of my recollection, I don’t make statements like that in jest,” he said.

His chief accuser, William Garcia, a former deputy director of the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, repeated assertions he made to the committee last week that Pierce made the statement at a meeting of high-level Administration officials in December740307257bill, ultimately vetoed, that would have prohibited discrimination in employment against homosexuals.

Garcia, who no longer is with the department and is appealing a demotion, told the committee that Pierce “said something to the effect of, ‘Just give me a submachine gun and I’ll take care of the problem.’ ”

Asked by Roberti whether he made such a statement, Pierce replied, “I did not, Mr. Chairman.”

Another witness, Michael Kelley, who also attended the meeting, told the committee flatly that Pierce “didn’t say it.” Likewise, Shirley Chilton, a member of Deukmejian’s cabinet and the secretary of state and consumer services, sent the committee a sworn statement asserting that she never heard such a statement from Pierce, a 20-year veteran of state government.

Another Version

However, Mark Guerra, state director of fair employment and housing, told the committee under questioning that he heard Pierce make a remark about a machine gun but because he was “too busy” with other things he did know until he was told after the meeting that it allegedly applied to homosexuals. “I was in total ignorance as to what it related to,” he said.

He said Garcia and Betty Reader, also a Guerra deputy, told him of the alleged remark and expressed their dismay. Guerra said he now would characterize the disputed statement as “facetious.”

Reader previously had submitted an affidavit supporting Garcia’s recollection, but Roberti said Wednesday that intensive efforts to find her and serve her with a subpoena to testify were futile.

‘Violating the Oath’

At one point, Mello expressed frustration at the contradictions and declared, “Somebody is violating the oath that was just taken.”

“I’m not violating,” responded Garcia. “I’m a God-fearing man.”

But Craven asserted that the issue amounted to “making a mountain out of a mole hill,” and that although the alleged remark was “untoward,” he said virtually every one says something he or she later regrets, even it was meant in jest.

“Is it sufficient, in your judgment, to ruin the laudatory 20-year career of a public servant?” he asked the Democrats. “He’s obviously well qualified.” While the committee rejected Pierce, Roberti held out the possibility that the issue may surface again. “We have until Feb. 13 for final action,” he said.