Burgener Outlines Plans for UC Regents Board

Former U.S. Rep. Clair W. Burgener, appointed this week to the prestigious University of California Board of Regents, vowed Thursday to bring “a San Diego flavor” to his new position.

Burgener, speaking by phone from his home in Rancho Santa Fe, said he was honored and flattered to be appointed to the 28-member board by Gov. George Deukmejian, a longtime friend and political ally. Burgener, 66, will be the third San Diego County resident to serve as a regent in the 120-year history of the UC system.

He will replace San Diego architect Frank L. Hope Jr., whose term on the board expired in March. Burgener’s term will expire March 1, 2000, if his appointment is approved, as expected, by the state Senate.

‘Excited About It’

“I’m excited about it. I think I can be a good regent, and I think I can be useful to the university,” he said, citing his service on both the state Senate Education and Finance committees while he was a member of the state Legislature from 1967 to 1973. Burgener also said he has worked closely with the University of California in the past two years in its bid for a proposed supercollider.

Although the regents, in their capacity as overseers of the nine-university system, do not represent specific campuses, UC San Diego administrators met Burgener’s appointment with delight. Chancellor Richard C. Atkinson called Burgener’s selection “an outstanding choice.” Vice Chancellor Harold Ticho was similarly pleased.

“I’m absolutely delighted that we continue to have a San Diego regent,” Ticho said. “We hope that he will take a particular interest in our institution.” Ticho said he expects the regents will face some “exceedingly difficult and important decisions” regarding the growth of the UC system and campus crowding.

Wait-and-See Approach

Burgener, acknowledging that he is not yet acquainted with all the issues, said he will attempt to get to know the other regents before taking any stands. “Naturally, the people at UCSD would expect me to keep a very sharp eye out for their interests. . . . but I don’t have any particular agenda, “ he said. “If I am to be effective, I need to gain the confidence and respect of my fellow regents first. I need to convince them I’m a team player,” Burgener said, adding that he considers himself “a consensus-builder, not a faction-type person.”

San Diego’s first regent was attorney DeWitt A. (Dutch) Higgs, who served from 1966 to 1982, breaking the historical bias on the board toward appointees from the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas. In 1984, Hope was appointed to fill four years of an unexpired term, after local civic leaders and politicians lobbied Deukmejian heavily to select another San Diegan.

Burgener was instrumental in persuading Deukmejian to appoint Hope originally, and said he urged the governor to reappoint the San Diego architect this year. Deukmejian announced in February that he would not reappoint Hope, but pledged a month later to place a San Diegan in the vacant seat. Burgener said he never sought the appointment, and instead suggested Rancho Santa Fe businesswoman and philanthropist Marianne Macdonald and San Diego businessman Thomas C. Stickel, a former California State University trustee, as likely candidates.

Friend of Governor

Burgener said he and Deukmejian are close friends, but added: “He doesn’t owe me a thing, not at all.” Deukmejian did not tell him why, specifically, he was chosen for the position, and Burgener said he did not ask. “I think he trusts me and obviously has confidence in me,” he said. “(Deukmejian) tends to turn to old friends, people he has known for a long time, as often as he can--he’s not a risk taker.”

Deukmejian spokesman Tom Beermann said Burgener was chosen “because of his long history of public service to the state of California.” The decision not to reappoint Hope was not because of any ill will between Hope and the governor, Beermann said, but was taken to provide others with the opportunity to serve on the board of regents.

Burgener will be adding his unpaid service on the board of regents to a host of other board memberships. Besides the presidency of the state Personnel Board, to which he was appointed by Deukmejian in 1983, Burgener serves on the boards of five local corporations: San Diego Gas & Electric, San Diego Trust & Savings Bank, Management Analysis Co. (MAC), Tom Stickel’s TCS Financial and Blue Shield of California. He is also on the board of International Broadcasting, a federal agency that broadcasts news worldwide in 23 languages.

Burgener, who was appointed by Deukmejian to a one-year stint as chairman of the California Republican Party in 1986, got his political start on the San Diego City Council in the 1950s. In 1963, he moved up to a seat in the state Assembly, where he served two terms, then was a member of the state Senate with Deukmejian from 1967 to 1973. He was elected to the House of Representatives for five terms, from 1973 to 1983, and led Deukmejian’s first gubernatorial campaign in 1982.