Honig Angered by Governor’s Trustee Choice

Gov. Pete Wilson on Monday reappointed state schools chief Bill Honig’s main antagonist on California’s Board of Education, a move Honig called an outrage designed to please conservatives.

“The only reason he got (re)appointed is essentially because of the power of the right,” Honig said of Wilson’s decision to give Joseph Carrabino a new four-year term. “He’s symbolic for whatever reason to their interest.”

Carrabino, who was board president the past two years, has led a campaign to take away some of Honig’s authority.

But Wilson’s press secretary, Bill Livingstone, said the reappointment was not an attempt to stir up more problems for Honig, a Democrat who is viewed as a potential challenger to the Republican governor in 1992.

“The governor is very concerned about accountability of public funding,” Livingstone said. “It has nothing to do with any personal rivalry that existed on the board.”

But Honig charged that Carrabino, a UCLA professor, was “utterly unqualified to sit on this board. He has been president for two years and has no education agenda I can think of. He’s used it (his board seat) for mischief.”

Honig indicated that he will try to persuade the Democratic-controlled state Senate to reject the appointment.

Wilson also reappointed Dorothy Lee of Ventura and named two new members, Yvonne Larsen of San Diego and Frank Light of La Jolla.

Honig said the Larsen and Light appointments could give board moderates a slim edge over conservatives.

The 11-member board voted 6 to 3 last November to file a lawsuit to try to dilute the superintendent’s power. Federal and state grand juries are investigating charges that Honig violated conflict-of-interest laws in dealings with his wife’s education consulting business.