For Wilson, the Coast Has Never Been Clearer : Commission openings pose test for governor--and Speaker

Four members of the California Coastal Commission are serving on borrowed time, including three appointed by then-Gov. George Deukmejian, who tried hard to wipe out coastal protection.

That could put important stretches of one of California’s most precious assets--its beaches and coastal ridges--on borrowed time, too.

Gov. Pete Wilson should clear away any chance of that happening at once by nominating replacements who value coastal protection more, as he does. Wilson, who has a long history of supporting coastal protection, has left the Deukmejian members in place for five months since their terms expired.

The Senate, Assembly and governor’s office each get four appointments to the 12-member policy commission, created by initiative in 1972 to manage growth along the coast.

SPEAKER’S CHOICE: The fourth member with an expired term is Mark Nathanson, under investigation by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office and the FBI for coastal-related activities.

Appointed by Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), he is one of the Speaker’s Sherpas in the land of the big political bucks, Beverly Hills and the Los Angeles westside. Brown has said he has no intention of replacing Nathanson.

The district attorney is trying to decide whether Nathanson violated conflict-of-interest laws by taking consulting fees from a coastal developer. The FBI is looking into a charge by former Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys) that Nathanson helped extort funds from a San Diego developer who had cases before the commission.

Brown’s stated reason for failing to show Nathanson the door is that citizens are innocent until proven guilty. That is as disingenuous as it is irrelevant.

Brown knows the power of rumor as well as anyone in Sacramento. He knows that coastal commissioners should not live with the whisper of corruption, whether they approve a developer’s plan or reject it.

Brown owes California this one.

GOVERNOR’S CHOICE: As for Wilson, it is true enough that he has had other things on his mind since the terms of the three commissioners expired in August. Amid the recession, his budget sinks deeper into the red. California could well be slipping into a sixth year of drought. Drafting of a crucial plan to guide growth in California is behind schedule. He faces a fierce fight on his plans to cut welfare by ballot initiative.

Yet this is a move he could make without adding so much as a nickel to the cost of government in California. Names of nominees who share his concerns about preserving the California coast already have been forwarded to his office by the state Department of Resources. It seems difficult to justify further delay.

There could not be a wider gulf between the Wilson record on coastal protection and that of his predecessor. Deukmejian, who regarded the commission as an unnecessary added layer of regulation, relentlessly cut the coastal budget, reducing the coastal staff nearly by half. At one point during his Administration, a single employee was responsible for spotting and trying to stop violations of the law along the entire coastline.

Wilson’s interest in protecting the coast goes as far back as 1970 when, as an assemblyman, he sponsored the first bill to call for a coastal management plan. It died in the Senate, but Wilson helped launch a ballot initiative two years later that was approved by a wide margin.

Wilson restored as much of the commission’s budget as dwindling revenues allowed after he took office last year.

It is hard to know how much of the Wilson record is at risk because of the delay in getting his own people in place. It is easy to know how to wipe out the risk entirely: He needs only to call three good people and ask them to serve and do it as fast as he can.