2 UC Regents Nominations Win Approval in Senate

Handing Gov. Pete Wilson a victory, the Democratic-controlled Senate on Friday approved two Southern California business executives as regents of the University of California.

The votes to confirm Gerald L. Parsky of Los Angeles and Peter G. Preuss of San Diego were overwhelming. However, it remained clear that a third Wilson nominee, former state GOP Chairman Tirso del Junco, continues to face obstacles in the way of his confirmation.

For lame-duck Wilson, Senate approval of Parsky and Preuss to 12-year terms on the prestigious board marked at least a brief departure from his steadily souring relations with Senate Democrats.

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Preuss, founder of a software manufacturing company and now president of the philanthropic Preuss Foundation, which underwrites cancer research, was approved on a unanimous 32-0 vote.

Parsky, an attorney and chairman of an investment partnership, was confirmed 32 to 2. He was an assistant secretary of the Treasury in the Ronald Reagan administration.

Both appointees are generous GOP campaign donors, including contributions to Wilson.

But Senate Leader Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward), whose opposition has led to the rejection of key Wilson appointees and caused the governor to withdraw others, struck an unusual cheerleader role Friday.

He denied the notion that Senate Democrats put the GOP governor’s nominees to a partisan “litmus test” and said Democrats “try to give the governor the benefit of the doubt.”

Lockyer praised Parsky and Preuss as “splendid examples of Californians who want to serve their state,” calling them “perhaps the best appointees I have seen Wilson send to the Senate.”

Lockyer, however, noted that Parsky had been involved in “lawsuits and various kinds of disputes” with his former boss at Treasury, William E. Simon. These business “disagreements” gave rise to “questions about legal and financial dealings” of Parsky in the past, Lockyer said.

He said a Senate staff investigation of Parsky was unable to produce all records. But he said of those that were examined, none produced evidence that would sink Parsky’s appointment.

“We are relying on Mr. Parsky’s representation that there is absolutely nothing in these old issues that would disqualify him from service,” Lockyer said.

The two votes against Parsky were cast by Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) and Sen. Quentin L. Kopp (I-San Francisco). “I’m not willing to rely on Mr. Parsky’s representations,” Kopp said.

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In a July 8 letter to Lockyer, Parsky indicated that the state bar and the federal Office of Thrift Supervision, created after the savings and loan scandals, had sought information from him on business dealings in the 1980s, which he provided.

Parsky said he believes that the investigations have been closed because he has not received further requests.

As for Del Junco, the chairman of the UC regents whose appointment is frozen in the Rules Committee, Lockyer said there was no softening of Democratic opposition to the feisty GOP activist.

He likened del Junco, who he said is “excessively partisan,” to boxer Mike Tyson, who bit off a chunk of opponent Evander Holyfield’s ear.

Lockyer, one of the Legislature’s toughest partisans, said “excessive partisans” perform politically like wrestlers by “spitting, throwing punches, throwing people into the audience . . . biting ears,” but they don’t belong on the board of regents.

He indicated that Del Junco fits that mold, but that Parsky and Preuss do not.