Board Changes Mind, Endorses Incumbent : Politics: Supervisors add Dorill B. Wright to coastal panel nominees after first backing two slow-growth candidates.

Given a second chance, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors endorsed embattled incumbent Dorill B. Wright on Tuesday for another term on the California Coastal Commission.

Wright’s name will be forwarded by the board to Gov. Pete Wilson along with those of Supervisor Maria VanderKolk and Moorpark Mayor Paul W. Lawrason Jr. The board rejected a request by Thousand Oaks Mayor Frank Schillo for a nomination.

The board’s reluctant nomination of Wright came a week after supervisors backed two slow-growth candidates for the 12-member coastal panel--VanderKolk and Ventura Councilman Donald A. Villeneuve.

Villeneuve’s defeat in the Nov. 5 election led to reconsideration of the issue this week, since the governor had asked the board for at least two nominees.

Wright, a veteran Port Hueneme councilman, has held the commission’s south-central coast seat for all but two years since 1976.

But spokesmen for the Sierra Club and VanderKolk argued again Tuesday that the incumbent’s record is pro-growth and does not justify his reappointment.

VanderKolk argued against nominating three officials of widely varying growth philosophies because that would dilute the impact of the board’s endorsement.

“We need to send a statement one way or another,” she said. VanderKolk, who was elected on a slow-growth platform in 1990, said she respects Wright but disagrees with his positions on coastal development.

To reinforce that point, Sierra Club representatives cited Wright’s record on 75 votes during 1988 and 1989, as compiled by the Natural Resources Defense Council, a San Francisco-based environmental group.

The board rated Wright among the lowest of the coastal commissioners on issues such as high-density development, oil drilling, wetlands preservation and shoreline erosion and access.

The group gave Wright a 17% approval rating for pro-conservation measures, compared to an overall commission rating of 60%. All four appointees of former Gov. George Deukmejian rated between 11% and 17%. The eight commissioners appointed by the speaker of the California Assembly and the state Senate Rules Committee rated between 27% to 92%.

Alan Sanders, a Sierra Club spokesman, said the coast is being “destroyed by unregulated development” and he urged the supervisors not to submit a “grab bag of names” to the governor.

Wright could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Supervisors John K. Flynn and Maggie Erickson Kildee said, however, that they think Wright has done a good job overall. And the board voted 4 to 1, with VanderKolk dissenting, to submit the incumbent’s name.

The board also split 4 to 1, with Flynn dissenting, on Supervisor Vicky Howard’s recommendation that Moorpark Mayor Lawrason be nominated. Though Lawrason was attacked as pro-development in his reelection campaign last year, Howard said he has proved to be “a very responsible member” of the Moorpark City Council.

By law, nominations for the governor’s four appointments to the coastal commission come from county supervisors or from a committee representing the cities of a county.

The Mayors Selection Committee, which includes top officials from 10 local cities, has endorsed Wright and Schillo.

As a result, this county has nominated four officials for the commission seat representing Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

Santa Barbara County supervisors have endorsed Santa Barbara Mayor Sheila Lodge.

In San Luis Obispo County, a cities’ committee has nominated the mayors of Morro Bay, Pismo Beach and Grover City. County supervisors may consider more nominees at meeting on Tuesday, a spokeswoman said.

A Wilson spokesman said the governor’s deadline for nominations was Oct. 20 and never was officially extended. Spokesman Franz Wisner said Wilson may make a selection this month.

A spokesmen for Wilson said recently that the governor is “committed to beefing up the commission.” Spokesman James Lee said Wilson wants to appoint someone who shares the governor’s philosophy “that coastal development and environmental protection are not mutually exclusive.”