Senate Rejects Wilson’s Choice for UC Regent

Breaking a 125-year tradition, the state Senate on Thursday upheld the rejection of an appointee to the University of California Board of Regents when it closed the door on the nomination of the first Chinese American to serve on the powerful panel.

It was a setback for Gov. Pete Wilson, whose appointment of Lester Lee, a Saratoga businessman, to the university’s 26-member governing board was rejected Monday by the Senate Rules Committee.

On Thursday, the final day for action on the appointment, Senate Republicans sought to bring the nomination to a vote before the full Senate. But in a partisan vote, they could not withdraw Lee’s appointment from the committee.

Lee is the first regents’ nominee ever rejected by the Senate, according to university and Senate officials. Until this week, the only regents nominee who did not win confirmation was railroad magnate and politician Leland Stanford, who in 1883 withdrew his appointment in the face of Democratic opposition.

The spirited debate over whether the 62-year-old Lee should remain on the board mixed politics, race and the university’s direction.

In opposing Lee, Democrats cited his willingness to go along with steep increases in students fees, which have jumped 113% to $3,400 a year since 1990, and raises for administrators. They contrasted his low-key style with another Wilson appointee, African American businessman Ward Connerly of Sacramento, whose nomination was approved Monday. Regents serve 12-year terms.

“The contrast was fairly dramatic,” said new Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward). “They were both Republican contributors, friends of Pete Wilson but Connerly is willing to be critical of the university as an institution and Mr. Lee seems not to be willing to do that.”

The rejection of Lee suggests that appointees of Republican Wilson, who is seeking reelection this year, will face a closer look by the Democratic-controlled upper chamber.

“If there is any change that this vote represents,” Lockyer said, “(it) is that we do not intend to routinely rubber-stamp any governor’s nominations, that we expect to offer some independent judgment about these appointments.”

Although it was a setback for Wilson, it was a victory of sorts for Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica), who for the past year has pressed his colleagues to make the regents more accountable for their actions.

Thursday’s vote--technically on a procedural question--was a tough one for some Senate Democrats who face election this year in districts with heavy concentrations of Asian American voters. The upper chamber voted 19 to 15 to reject a request by Republican Leader Ken Maddy of Fresno to withdraw Lee’s name from the Rules Committee so the appointment could be considered by the full Senate.

Lee, an immigrant, was named to the board a year ago and was allowed to serve for the full year without Senate approval. He earned a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University, and in 1970 started his own company, which supplies high-tech magnetic tape testing equipment.

Trouble for his nomination began to surface last month when the California Federation of Teachers announced its opposition, maintaining that middle-class Californians might soon be unable to afford to send their children to the university.

The opposition, which apparently caught Republican legislators off-guard, prompted Lee to rally support among Asian American groups.

Lee could not be reached after Thursday’s vote, but after Monday’s action by the Rules Committee, he defended his support of a student fee increase, saying it was based on the university’s overall budget plan allowing the system “to operate at close to current levels” and “for the best interest of the university.”

In a statement, he said, “Everyone knows that Asians, especially Chinese, have been historically underrepresented. This action appears to be deliberately done by elected officials who hide behind partisan politics to deny a qualified Chinese American candidate from serving in the public interest.”

University spokesman Mike Lassiter said that about 9% of the student body on all UC campuses are Chinese Americans. At least one other Asian American currently sits on the governing body.

Senate Republican Leader Maddy voiced disappointment that Lee must step down from the board.

During a lively Senate floor debate, he hailed Lee as a superbly qualified appointee “who epitomizes the success that immigrants and racial and ethnic minorities can achieve in this country.”

He said the board “cries out for a regent who knows first-hand how to overcome linguistic and cultural barriers” and who “represents a role model for all Californians, regardless of their ethnic or cultural background.”

Hayden, a Democratic candidate for governor, however, criticized Republicans for raising the race issue.

“I don’t think we should be pushed into approving a regent on those grounds alone,” he said. “And it strikes me as extremely odd that Republicans would use affirmative action as an argument. . . . I think the governor or Sen. Maddy trying to play the race card is a terrible mistake.”

J. P. Tremblay, a Wilson spokesman, scoffed at the suggestion Republicans were injecting race into the debate. After Monday’s committee vote, Wilson said the action left him dumbfounded, and cited the need for the regents to be more ethnically and racially diverse.