False Resume May Cost Job if Bill Passes : Government: Cal State board chairwoman’s admission concerning degree prompted the legislation. Its author says the Senate needs a way to remove appointees confirmed on strength of false credentials.

The chairwoman of the California State University trustees, who has claimed a community college degree she did not earn, could be removed from her post under legislation introduced Thursday aimed at assuring that governmental appointees tell the truth about their credentials.

Sen. Gary Hart (D-Santa Barbara), chairman of the Senate Education Committee, said he wrote the legislation in response to revelations in December that CSU Chairwoman Marianthi K. Lansdale incorrectly claimed a 1959 associate of arts degree from Long Beach City College when selected by Gov. George Deukmejian and confirmed by the Senate for a spot on the powerful board.

Lansdale publicly apologized for the claim after she acknowledged in a Times article that she never received a degree from the community college, where records show she attended for 13 semesters from 1957 to 1967.

Under Hart’s bill--intended to apply retroactively to Lansdale and other gubernatorial appointees--anyone chosen for a job that requires Senate confirmation could be removed if the appointee were found to have knowingly given false information during a confirmation hearing, usually low-key meetings that rubber-stamp the governor’s selection.

The bill also includes a provision that would require gubernatorial appointees to submit to the Senate an accurate record of their educational background--in writing and under penalty of perjury, a criminal misdemeanor.

“We need to send a clear message to people who are appointees of the governor, and subject to confirmation of the Senate, that we take this information with a great deal of seriousness,” said Hart. “If they are not comprehensive (in their background) there is going to be a price to be paid.”

Hart said he drafted the proposed law when he learned that the Senate has no authority to remove gubernatorial appointees once they are confirmed. Appointees under fire must resign voluntarily for a new vacancy to be created, he said.

Hart also said Thursday that he believes Lansdale should resign if she can’t come up with a “compelling case” as to why she falsely claimed the 1959 degree. “I think she should step down or else it sends the wrong message to the students,” he said.

The Santa Barbara Democrat joins Senate President Pro Tempore David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) in calling for Lansdale’s resignation.

Ironically, it was Hart’s name, as chairman of the Senate Education Committee, that was invoked on Lansdale’s behalf when she appeared before the Senate Rules Committee for questioning in March, 1985, following her appointment by Deukmejian the previous year.

“On behalf of Sen. Gary Hart, he informed me that if we didn’t confirm your appointment, that we’d all be in deep trouble,” Sen. Henry Mello (D-Watsonville) said during the brief confirmation hearing. “And looking at your qualifications, I agree with him.”

An information sheet supplied to the senators from Deukmejian’s office showed Lansdale’s educational credentials as “1959: A.A. Degree, Literature, Long Beach City College,” legislative files show.

Lansdale supplied the information to Deukmejian’s office by filling out a standard appointment application form, a spokesman for the governor has said.

Lansdale and her husband, Long Beach developer William (Bit) Lansdale, are longtime supporters of Deukmejian and gave the governor more than $100,000 in donations and the use of a corporate airplane during his 1982 campaign, public records show. Both received prominent administration appointments after Deukmejian’s 1982 election.

As chairwoman, Lansdale heads a 24-member board responsible for making policy decisions for one of the world’s largest public four-year university systems. She selects colleagues to serve on special committees, presides over its six annual board meetings and helps set the tone in salary negotiations with the system’s 19,200 faculty members. The chairmanship is rotated among members, who are paid $100 a day plus expenses for meetings.

Lansdale could not be reached for comment Thursday on the proposed legislation.

Robert Gore, Deukmejian’s press secretary, said the governor has not talked to Lansdale since her public admission last month.

“Obviously, he’s concerned about Mrs. Lansdale but there’s the State of the State (Address) to do and a number of pressing issues,” said Gore. “I believe Mrs. Lansdale’s last comment was that she apologized and she would meet with Sen. Roberti. We would like to see the outcome of that meeting.”

Assembly Speaker Willie L. Brown (D-San Francisco)--an ex officio member of the CSU board--declined to say earlier this week whether he thinks Lansdale should resign.

But Brown said misstatements of credentials are a violation of public trust, and he made it clear that he expects any of his appointees to government boards and commissions to resign if caught falsifying their backgrounds or engaging in other questionable conduct.

“I don’t think any person I appointed who misrepresented themselves, I would even have to have that discussion with,” Brown said. “I’m sure they would pick up the telephone and offer to quit. Whether or not I’d accept their offer depends on the circumstances.”

Lansdale’s admission has brought a strong reaction from university professors, and the Academic Senate may discuss the issue during meetings today, said Pat Nichelson, president of the California Faculty Assn.

Nichelson said the CFA, the union that represents the professors and other state university employees, may take an official stand on Lansdale’s falsification in a few days. Two CFA officials were in Sacramento to gauge legislative reaction to the Lansdale controversy, he added.

One of them, CSU-Stanislaus economics professor Bill Crist, said legislators were “very upset” over Lansdale’s admission but generally didn’t feel she had to resign.

“If Trustee Lansdale had the reputation of being a real bad trustee or not a good leader, that would be the case,” said Crist, director of the CFA’s political action committee. “But that’s not the general sense. She’s done a credible job on the board and that’s going to temper people’s thinking.”

Crist also said that CSU Chancellor W. Ann Reynolds was in Sacramento on Thursday to meet with legislators, presumably to soothe concerns about Lansdale and rally support for the trustee.

Reynolds has voiced strong support for the Deukmejian appointee, whom she says is conscientious and enthusiastic.