Newcomer Defeats Howard for Top Post on Coastal Panel : Coastline: The councilwoman says she is surprised at the selection of a man who had never attended a commission meeting.

Burbank City Councilwoman Mary Lou Howard on Tuesday was defeated in her bid to head up the California Coastal Commission by Thomas W. Gwyn, a San Francisco university administrator named to the panel just last Friday.

Howard, who has been on the coastal panel since 1987 and is aligned with environmental forces, said she was surprised at the selection of “an individual who has not been on the commission” any longer than Gwyn.

“I have no idea what his philosophy is on environmental issues,” Howard said, suggesting that Gwyn’s choice is a setback for the environmental community. Other environmentalists voiced similar concerns.

But Gwyn, who acknowledged that he was attending his first commission meeting, sought to calm their fears, maintaining that he shares “the commitment of this commission to protecting the 1,100 miles of California coastline.”

Gwyn was elected on a 7-5 vote after less than 20 minutes of discussion. He said his selection gives the panel the opportunity for a fresh start after several months of being stalemated over picking a chairman. Gwyn replaces Michael Wornum of Larkspur, a former assemblyman whose term on the commission ended.

The choice of a new chairman has taken on importance because the commission has been evenly divided between environmentalist and developer-oriented factions.

In January, the commission deadlocked 6 to 6 on the choice of a chairman. The commission was split between Howard, who was backed by environmentalists on the panel, and David Malcolm, a Chula Vista city councilman who Howard supporters said is aligned with pro-development forces.

Meanwhile, the Senate Rules Committee named Marin County Supervisor Gary Giacomini to the commission and Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) picked Gwyn, 48, a longtime friend.

A former legislative staffer, Gwyn is assistant chancellor for public service programs at the UC San Francisco. In selecting him, Brown noted that Gwyn is only the second black to serve on the panel. Among his environmental credentials, Gwyn cited his service on the board of Friends of the Urban Forest, which plants trees in San Francisco.

In addition to his own vote, Gwyn was backed by four appointees of Gov. George Deukmejian, a longtime commission critic, and two other Brown appointees, Mark Nathanson, a Beverly Hills real estate developer, and Malcolm.

Howard contended that “this whole thing was set up by Mr. Nathanson and the Speaker. It looks like they have been successful in changing the balance of the commission” to make it “less environmentally sensitive.”

Nathanson scoffed at that suggestion, saying his was just “one vote out of 12.” Brown also shrugged off complaints and “indicated that liberal environmentalists are never pleased to see a minority involved in their area,” said his spokesman, Chuck Dalldorf.

Ann Notthoff, senior project planner with the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental research group that has tracked the voting records of coastal commissioners, said she was not prepared to pass judgment on Gwyn “just because he was elected by the pro-development forces.” But she called his selection troubling.

Assemblyman Sam Farr (D-Carmel) complimented Gwyn and said it was too early to tell if the direction of the commission would shift.