Mayors Vote to Keep Wedaa on Air Board, for Now

Orange County’s mayors Thursday voted to allow their controversial representative on the regional air quality board to keep his seat.

Yorba Linda Councilman Henry W. Wedaa was able to get the support of the required two-thirds of the county’s mayors to retain his seat on the South Coast Air Quality Management District during the Orange County League of Cities meeting.

In return for staying on the board, Wedaa submitted to the committee chairman a letter of resignation for his AQMD seat, dated Dec. 15, 1994, which assures that even if he changes his mind and runs for reelection on Yorba Linda council, he no longer could serve on the AQMD board after that date. Wedaa has said he will not seek reelection.

“It is a tradition in our country and county to fight tough and hard before elections,” Wedaa said after the vote. “It is an equal tradition to close ranks after the people or the representatives have spoken. (The mayors) have now spoken.”

Garden Grove Councilman Mark Leyes, one of Wedaa’s most outspoken critics, said Thursday, “The League of Cities has caved in to a man who’s been holding this seat hostage. He does not own this seat.”

Several of the mayors contend Wedaa’s AQMD votes have been anti-business and anti-city. His supporters say he is the target of archconservatives who are opposed to any meaningful clean-air regulations.

Wedaa has been an AQMD board member for six years and its board chairman the past two years. The AQMD enacts and enforces regulations that govern air pollution control efforts in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

The vote ends a stalemate that threatened to leave Orange County without a representative on the board.

The mayors had to select a representative by March 1 or, under a new state law, the county would forfeit its seat on the board.

Some Orange County governments and private companies have been complaining that the AQMD’s regulations have proven too costly and have driven some businesses out of the area. Wedaa has been the lightning rod for that displeasure.