Rep. Lungren Named Treasurer; Battle Seen

Gov. George Deukmejian, making one of the most crucial appointments of his political career, today named Rep. Daniel E. Lungren state treasurer, filling a vacancy created by the death of Jesse Unruh.

The nomination immediately set the stage for a fierce confirmation battle in the Legislature.

Lungren, 41, a Republican from Deukmejian’s home town of Long Beach, would succeed the four-term Unruh, one of California’s most powerful politicians who transformed the largely ceremonial treasurer’s office into an agency with national economic and political clout before his death in August.

Describing Lungren as “an individual of unassailable integrity,” Deukmejian said the congressman “is a man who is thoroughly qualified by virtue of his experience, good character and views to assume the important duties of state treasurer.”

The appointment can be blocked by a negative vote of either house of the Legislature, according to a recent attorney general’s opinion.

The selection capped weeks of Capitol rumors and intense political infighting between backers of Lungren, led by GOP conservatives, and the more moderate supporters of Sen. Ken Maddy of Fresno, a veteran state senator and unsuccessful candidate for governor in 1978.

But Maddy, who reportedly received bipartisan backing in both houses of the Legislature, was apparently eliminated from contention after Deukmejian publicly expressed concern about the use of marijuana by public officials. In 1978, Maddy acknowledged that he had experimented with marijuana during the 1960s.