Wilson Names Seymour to Affordable-Housing Post

Former Republican U.S. Sen. John Seymour, defeated for election by Dianne Feinstein last month, was appointed by Gov. Pete Wilson on Monday to direct the state’s $5-billion loan program for low- and moderate-income housing.

As executive director of the California Housing Finance Agency, Seymour, subject to expected routine confirmation by the state Senate, will be paid $98,076 a year, which reflects a 5% salary cut the governor has urged his appointees to take in tough economic times.

For Seymour, who inspected his agency’s headquarters across the street from the Capitol on Monday, the appointment marks the second time in as many years that Wilson has selected him for a top-level government post.

In 1990, the newly elected governor tossed conventional political wisdom aside when he bypassed better-known Republicans and selected Seymour, a state legislator from Anaheim, to succeed him in the U. S. Senate.

Seymour lost to Feinstein Nov. 3 in a race to fill the final two years of Wilson’s term. Among other things, Seymour was severely handicapped by a lack of name recognition among voters despite his energetic efforts.

Seymour, a former mayor of Anaheim who was elected to the state Senate in 1982, is a former real estate broker and property management executive. He said that his appointment may draw criticism as straight political patronage for a washed-up politician, but maintained that he is fully qualified for the post.

“This is not an arena, an area or an environment that I am unfamiliar with at all,” he said in an interview. “I’m not tired and old. I think I know a little bit about this business and I think I have got something to contribute.”

Seymour, who served on the state Senate Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, termed low-cost housing an issue “that has long been near and dear to me.”

In a statement, the governor cited Seymour’s experience in government, business and housing matters as credentials that make Seymour an “outstanding choice” to head the agency as affordable housing continues as an issue in recession-weary California.

The California Housing Finance Agency is a self-supporting entity of state government that operates without general tax funds and acts as a banker for loans on affordable housing and apartment rentals by selling tax-exempt notes and bonds. Proceeds from the sales are loaned through private vendors to low- and moderate-income Californians.

About 5,000 loans are financed by the agency each year, including $500 million in mortgages to first-time home buyers who usually do not qualify for other forms of financing.

The executive director, who manages a $5-billion portfolio, reports to an independent board of directors. By law, such independence is intended to insulate the agency from political interference.

Karney Hodge, who recently retired as executive director of the agency, has expressed concern that other housing-related bureaucracies in state government may seek to test the agency’s political insulation.

Because the agency handles vast sums of money, Hodge said, independence from political influence must be safeguarded. “This needs to be clear in the minds of folks who take on these (top) positions,” he said.