Divided Panel OKs UC Regent Nominee : Education: Senate Rules Committee backs John Davies, Wilson’s attorney and close friend, despite calls for more diversity on governing board. Roberti abstains but expects full Senate to vote approval.

The Senate Rules Committee on Wednesday narrowly approved the appointment of Gov. Pete Wilson’s personal attorney to the UC Board of Regents, rejecting opposition that the governor’s pick was based on gender, wealth and political connections.

A 3-1 vote of the five-member committee sent the appointment of John G. Davies to the full Senate for confirmation, where Senate leader David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys) forecast Davies probably will be approved later in the month. In a rare departure from his custom, Roberti abstained from the vote.

Liberal Sen. Nicholas C. Petris (D-Oakland), whose district includes UC Berkeley, joined the committee’s two Republicans in approving Davies for the 12-year term.

For Republican Wilson, the action represented a close second victory in a newly developing controversy over his nominees to the UC Board of Regents. Last week, the full Senate voted narrow approval to S. Stephen Nakashima, a Wilson campaign contributor and second-generation Japanese-American.

Davies, 58, is an affluent, white Republican lawyer and former San Diego planning commissioner who met Wilson at UC’s Boalt Hall School of Law. He has been a trusted friend, personal attorney and intimate political adviser to the governor over the past three decades, and has served as a major Wilson fund-raiser.

But during the past few weeks, heavy opposition to Davies emerged, primarily from Latino organizations, student associations, Common Cause and the National Organization for Women. They charged, among other things, that Wilson’s nomination of Davies violated a constitutional requirement that regents be broadly representative of the economic, social and cultural diversity of the state’s population.

Further, some opponents contended, the appointment of Davies perpetuated a long tradition of political patronage in which governors reward their friends with appointments to the prestigious Board of Regents.

The new hostility to Wilson’s appointees follows approval by the regents--including Davies--approval last spring of a controversial $2.4-million pension package for retiring UC President David Gardner. At the same time, the regents were increasing student fees by 40%. Davies was appointed a year ago by Wilson, but only now is facing confirmation.

Witness after witness on Wednesday contended that Davies’ appointment violated the diversity requirement. One UC student association officer, Tobin Fried of the Santa Cruz campus, said that the regents already are adequately represented by “white, upper-class, male Republicans.”

Roberti interrupted Tobin to admonish him against going too far in stereotyping Davies. “White males don’t just represent white males,” he reminded her. Fried apologized but asserted that “we do not need more regents who are proxies of the governor.”

Davies said he took none of the criticism personally but expressed anger at being “judged on the basis of stereotypes. . . . I don’t think if they knew me they would say this is just another white male.

“What they are doing is emphasizing my race, my gender, my age,” he said. If he were applying for an another job, Davies said, those same characteristics “would be illegal” in his evaluation.

Afterward, a testy Davies walked away from reporters. “I think I’m going to go have a drink,” he snapped.

Roberti, who in the past has led the fight against gubernatorial nominees, told Davies he found some of the testimony against him “truly offensive” but that “I don’t find you unqualified. I intend to abstain.”

The only “no” vote was cast by Sen. Ruben Ayala (D-Chino). He said the nomination had failed to comply with an obscure constitutional provision requiring regent nominees to be screened by an advisory committee.