Wilson Abandons Nielsen Nomination

Amid a further souring of relations with the Democratic-led Legislature, Republican Gov. Pete Wilson on Wednesday abandoned the Senate confirmation fight for controversial former state Sen. James W. Nielsen as a member of the state farm labor board.

The decision, which in effect withdrew Nielsen’s nomination to the $92,460-a-year seat on the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, marked the first time Wilson has met defeat at the hands of the Senate Rules Committee, often the bane of his predecessor, GOP Gov. George Deukmejian.

The action occurred against a backdrop of festering disputes between Democratic legislators and Wilson, triggered in part by the governor’s veto of legislative reapportionment plans. The state Supreme Court subsequently adopted a redistricting plan that appears to favor the GOP.

Nielsen, who a Wilson aide indicated still may be appointed to some other Administration post, cast himself as a victim of political intrigues over which he had no control.

Last month, in the face of solid opposition by majority Democrats on the Senate Rules Committee, Wilson asked for and received an indefinite postponement of a confirmation vote.

The law allows an appointee to serve one year in office without Senate confirmation. For Nielsen, Saturday is the one-year deadline.

“After consultations with former Sen. Nielsen, the decision has been made mutually not to ask for a vote on the confirmation,” deputy press secretary Franz Wisner said Wednesday. “It was obvious to all that the committee would not vote in the affirmative.”

Democrats on the committee from the outset made no secret of their opposition to Nielsen, even though the Senate rarely refuses to confirm the appointment of a former colleague.

Nielsen campaigned for election to the Senate in 1978 as an outspoken enemy of what then was the newly created farm labor board.

Democrats and their allies in labor regard the board, which oversees union representation elections and which rules on allegations of unfair employment practices, as their turf. In the Senate, Nielsen, of Woodland, was an outspoken advocate for farmers and agribusiness.

Nielsen, who denies that he is an “enemy” of farm workers, mounted a last-minute lobbying campaign to save his job by securing the endorsements of several Latino organizations.