Clint Eastwood Selected for State Parks Panel

Gov. Gray Davis on Friday made Clint Eastwood’s day, appointing Hollywood’s “Dirty Harry” and the former mayor of Carmel to an unsalaried four-year term on the state Parks and Recreation Commission.

State Senate Leader John L. Burton (D-San Francisco), who called himself a friend and fan of Eastwood, a Republican, said the actor-director would face no difficulty getting confirmed by the Senate.

“I wouldn’t give him any trouble. He’d beat me up,” Burton joked.

The nine-member commission makes policy recommendations to state parks Director Rusty Areias on the development, protection and operations of the state’s park system.

Areias, who lobbied for Eastwood’s appointment, described him as a booster of state parks, including a stint as honorary spokesman for parks during the administration of former Gov. Pete Wilson.

Eastwood is a Hollywood icon who has acted in more than 50 films, including the “Dirty Harry” series in which he played San Francisco Police Det. Harry Callahan. He utters perhaps his most imitated line in 1983’s “Sudden Impact,” when Callahan points a revolver at a crook who is trying to decide whether to resist or give up and dares him to “Go ahead, make my day.”

Aides to Davis said Eastwood listed his occupation on the application as “production company owner.” A resident of the Carmel area, Eastwood donated a choice 134-acre parcel of property along the Carmel River to the Big Sur Land Trust, stopping a planned development.

In a brief interview, Eastwood described himself as a “preservationist” who believes the “state parks will benefit from whatever little knowledge I might have.”

“I’ve spent a lot of time and money on preservation of places. . . . I love the state parks. They’ve got to be maintained. The question is how well is the money spent and managed to do it.”