Supervisors Consider 4 for Coastal Commission : Appointments: Wright, VanderKolk, Lawrason and Villeneuve are candidates for recommendation to Gov. Wilson.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors is expected to recommend to Gov. Pete Wilson today the names of two candidates for a contested south-central coast seat on the California Coastal Commission.

Nine candidates from Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties are competing for the seat.

If Wilson makes a selection from this list, it could represent the governor’s first appointment to the commission.

Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Maggie Erickson Kildee said she expected that the board would vote for two of four candidates being considered by the county lawmakers.

Under the law, though, the supervisors could send all four names to the governor if they cannot make up their minds.

The longtime incumbent, Dorill B. Wright, 70, Port Hueneme City Council member and former mayor, has been on the commission since its inception 25 years ago, except for a period between 1981 and 1983.

He is seeking reappointment to a two-year term.

Besides Wright, the other three candidates to be considered by the supervisors are Ventura County Supervisor Maria E. VanderKolk, 26; Moorpark Mayor Paul W. Lawrason Jr., 62, and Ventura Deputy Mayor Donald A. Villeneuve, 61. Wright, VanderKolk and Lawrason are Republicans; Villeneuve is a Democrat.

Villeneuve also is one of two candidates recommended for the seat by the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors along with Santa Barbara Mayor Sheila Lodge, a Republican.

Today, Villeneuve also faces reelection to the Ventura City Council.

Because the Coastal Commission seat must be filled by a local elected official, Villeneuve must be reelected to the City Council to be eligible for the commission.

A fifth Ventura County candidate for the commission seat is Thousand Oaks Mayor Frank Schillo, 57, a Republican who, along with Wright, was endorsed by a cities’ selection committee.

As for San Luis Obispo County, a spokeswoman for its supervisors, Sondra Reiner, said “the board informally decided not to nominate anyone. They didn’t have enough information.”

Three candidates from San Luis Obispo have been nominated, however, by a cities’ selection committee.

It sent Wilson the names of the mayors of Morro Bay, Pismo Beach and Grover City.

The purpose of the Coastal Commission is to plan and regulate development along the California coast.

The agency has 15 members, of whom 12 are voting members.

Four are appointed by the governor, four by the Assembly speaker, and four by the Senate Rules Committee.

A member serves a two-year term and receives up to $200 a day for attending commission meetings, plus travel expenses.

Once the governor receives the nominations, he has 30 days to decide.

If he rejects all of the nominees, the process starts anew.

Wilson is not particularly interested in the political affiliation of the candidates, said James Lee, the governor’s deputy press secretary.

“You traditionally tend to appoint your own party,” Lee said in a telephone interview from Sacramento.

But for a seat on the Coastal Commission, Lee said, Wilson “would rather appoint people who share his philosophy that coastal development and environmental protection are not mutually exclusive.”

As a footnote to this philosophy, Lee said the Republican governor is not afraid to take controversial pro-environment positions.

He said Wilson, as a U.S. senator, voted against offshore oil drilling, placing him at odds with other Republicans.

“The governor looks forward to the opportunity to put his mark on the Coastal Commission,” Lee said. “This governor is committed to beefing up the commission.”

In a Sept. 20 letter to Erickson Kildee, Wilson said he has “a longstanding commitment to the wise management and conservation of coastal resources. I have begun to fulfill my commitment through budget increases for the Coastal Commission and in supporting many coastal legislative proposals.”

Besides filling the south-central coast seat, Wilson also is expected to select two more coastal commissioners this year for at-large public seats.