Advisors for Veterans Affairs Named

Gov.-elect Gray Davis completed the year Thursday by naming his top tier of advisors on veterans affairs, filling the 11th of 12 cabinet posts in the new administration that takes over Monday.

James R. Ramos, 62, a West Point graduate and Vietnam veteran, was named head of the state Department of Veterans Affairs, which governs programs affecting 3.1 million retired servicemen and women, as well as the Cal-Vet loan program and the state’s homes for retired veterans.

Davis also named Ramos’ three top deputies, including Sheryl Ann Schmidt--a carry-over from the Pete Wilson administration--as director for women veterans.

In other appointments this week, Davis named San Francisco Supervisor Jose Medina head of the state Department of Transportation and appointed Bill A. Lloyd, a longtime union activist, as liaison to the state Senate on labor issues.

With Thursday’s announcements, Davis has made 37 appointments since his election Nov. 3. The only cabinet job remaining is secretary of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, which oversees California’s scandal-plagued prison system. A spokesman said Thursday that it was uncertain whether Davis would fill that post before assuming office Monday.

Like the governor-elect, Ramos served in the Army Signal Corps in Vietnam, in 1962-63 and 1968-69. A disabled veteran and owner of a technical consulting firm, Ramos established the 200-member Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Network. He was selected by Gov. Wilson as the state’s Small Business Person of 1994.

Appointed along with Ramos were Tomas Alvarado, 52, as department undersecretary; Bruce Thiesen, 57, as deputy secretary, and Schmidt, 44, who has served as deputy director for women veterans for the past two years.

Davis’ appointee to head Caltrans--one of the state’s biggest and most controversial state agencies--was an early supporter of his underdog campaign.

Medina has served two years on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, but otherwise brings little direct experience on transportation matters. Before his election, he founded the Instituto Laboral de La Raza, a labor advocacy group, where he worked from 1982 to 1994.

“Jose Medina will bring a common-sense approach to the Department of Transportation,” Davis said in a prepared statement. “As a San Francisco supervisor, he is no stranger to managing infrastructure issues and he understands the nexus between transportation and the economy.”

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Watch live video coverage of the gubernatorial inaugural at 10:30 a.m. Monday and hear Times political, business and education writers’ audio analyses of the challenges facing Gov.-elect Gray Davis on the Times’ Web site:

https://www.latimes.com/davis