Legislators Clear Path for Fong Appointment to Board : Government: Confirmation hearings waived. He will succeed Carpenter on state equalization panel.

Republican Matthew Fong won assurances Monday from lawmakers of the Democratic-controlled Legislature that they will stand aside and let him become the first Asian-American to assume a seat on the State Board of Equalization.

Legislative leaders in both houses said they would take no action to confirm or deny Fong’s appointment--a move that automatically allows him to assume the $95,052-a-year post April 18, some 90 days after his nomination by the governor.

“I consider that a win. . . . I’m looking forward to taking my seat on the 18th,” said a confident Fong, who is the son of Democratic Secretary of State March Fong Eu. The board administers the state’s business taxes and rules on income tax appeals.

The Senate already had indicated it would hold no hearings and take no votes on the confirmation. The Assembly’s intentions were unclear until a special confirmation committee decided Monday that it too would not act on the appointment. Chairman Thomas M. Hannigan (D-Fairfield) said the committee would make no recommendation to the full Assembly and as a result the Assembly was not expected to take up the matter.

“He will be confirmed if we take no action. . . . Why address something that isn’t necessary?” asked Assemblyman Pat Nolan (R-Glendale), member of the special committee.

State law requires appointments to constitutional offices to be confirmed by both houses of the Legislature. If neither house takes action in 90 days, the appointee automatically assumes the post.

By letting Fong take office without formal confirmation, the Legislature also avoided taking any position on the legality of his appointment, which may be challenged in the courts by Paul Carpenter, the Democrat who was elected to the Los Angeles seat in November.

Eu declared the seat vacant in December, saying Carpenter’s conviction in federal court last September on political corruption charges made him ineligible to serve.

Attorneys for Carpenter contended that Eu had no legal authority to act because he was convicted for actions as a former state senator. Carpenter was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison, but is free while his case is being appealed.

Carpenter’s attorney, Merrick Scott Rayle of Los Angeles, who monitored the special committee hearing, said he has not decided whether to challenge Fong’s appointment.

“You have 560,000 people that elected this man (Carpenter) to office seven weeks after his highly publicized jury verdict and I don’t take that lightly,” said Rayle. “To put Mr. Fong in office is to disenfranchise all those folks.”

He said the Legislature, by allowing Fong to assume the office without formal confirmation, was being “very careful to make certain that it was understood that they were not determining whether there is a vacancy.”

The Legislature’s lawyers said that the law clearly prevents Carpenter from holding office even if his conviction is overturned.