Swift Changes in Coastal Panel Urged

Democratic lawmakers are urging new Assembly Speaker Cruz Bustamante (D-Fresno) to quickly remove controversial members of the California Coastal Commission appointed by his GOP predecessor and swing the panel’s balance back to Democratic control.

A spokeswoman for Bustamante said Thursday that he may act by today on the request, drafted by Assemblywoman Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey) and co-signed by seven other Assembly Democrats representing coastal districts.

Bustamante told reporters earlier this week that he intended to replace four appointees of former Republican Speaker Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) with people having “good environmental credentials” but without stifling a needed “entrepreneurial spirit.”

Capitol sources said Bustamante is expected to make an interim appointment immediately and postpone naming the three other appointments that the speaker is authorized to make.

Reports circulated that the temporary position would go to former Assemblyman Tom Bates (D-Berkeley), a liberal and strong environmentalist, or to former state Sen. Lucy Killea (I-San Diego), an environmental supporter but more moderate than Bates.

Of the 12 commission members, four are appointees of Republican Gov. Pete Wilson; four were picked by the Democratic-controlled state Senate Rules Committee chaired by Senate leader Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward). The remaining four are appointed by the Assembly speaker.

In the letter to Bustamante, Bowen said he should oust Pringle’s appointees and name one interim replacement before the commission’s next meeting Wednesday in San Francisco.

Each time the panel meets, Bowen said, it could make decisions “affecting us for the next 50 years.”

Under Pringle’s speakership, the balance on the panel shifted to Republican control for the first time in 24 years.

Environmentalists reacted with a chorus of complaints to two of Pringle’s choices in particular--Republican pollster Arnold Steinberg of Calabasas and property rights activist Patricia Randa of Sonoma.

Prior to their appointments, both had fought the Coastal Commission bitterly over decisions involving their own seaside properties.

At its meeting next week, the commission is scheduled to take up a long-standing proposal to allow development of 17 lots on Malibu Beach, and on a resort complex in Monterey County.

Bowen said that commission actions from now on “should reflect the Bustamante speakership priorities, not the Pringle speakership priorities.”