Vasquez Tapped for Peace Corps

Gaddi H. Vasquez, a Southern California Edison executive who quit the Orange County Board of Supervisors during the bankruptcy scandal of the mid-1990s, will be President Bush’s nominee to head the Peace Corps, the White House announced Wednesday.

The announcement came a month after Vasquez, 46, underwent heart bypass surgery when a routine medical checkup discovered a blockage.

“I’m honored to be nominated by the president,” Vasquez said Wednesday at his home in Orange. “I’m looking forward to the confirmation process.”

Vasquez said he could not discuss his selection or his political views about the Peace Corps while the nomination is pending. But he said that after his heart surgery he feels fit for the job. The White House did not comment on Vasquez’s health.

The appointment could position Vasquez, once a rising Latino Republican star, for a return to the public stage. He is the latest Latino named to a prominent post by the president in a concerted effort to court the nation’s growing Latino vote.

Bush’s cabinet is the most ethnically diverse ever. Among his top Latino appointments are Mel Martinez, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and White House counsel Alberto Gonzalez.

Vasquez served as an Orange County supervisor from 1987 to 1995, then resigned ahead of a recall campaign and a 1996 grand jury investigation that led to formal accusations of willful misconduct against two of his former colleagues.

Vasquez and two other supervisors were not accused because they had left the board. Removal from office is the only penalty in such civil actions.

But Vasquez was cited in a scathing 1996 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission report that accused the Board of Supervisors and other Orange County officials of misleading and defrauding buyers of more than $2.1 billion in municipal securities.

From 1985 to 1987, Vasquez, a former police officer, served as an aide to Gov. George Deukmejian, first as Hispanic liaison, then as chief deputy appointments secretary. He was appointed to a vacant Orange County Board of Supervisors seat and won his first election as supervisor in 1988, making him the highest-ranking elected Latino Republican in the state at that time.

He continues to serve as an Orange reserve police officer and sits on numerous community boards. He has been named one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in the nation six times by Hispanic Business Magazine and received the Award for Outstanding Leadership from the California Assembly.

He rose to national prominence during the 1988 Republican National Convention in Houston as one of three Orange County Republicans who spoke in the hours before then-Vice President George Bush was nominated to succeed President Ronald Reagan.

The Peace Corps directorship would be Vasquez’s third Washington appointment. Under the elder Bush’s administration, Vasquez served on two White House commissions.

After resigning during the bankruptcy, Vasquez joined Southern California Edison but left three months later to resume his law enforcement career, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family. But he soon returned to Edison and currently is division vice president of public affairs.

He has remained active in Republican politics and served on the California steering committee for the younger Bush’s presidential campaign. He also contributed $100,000 to the Republican National Committee, money left over from his supervisorial campaigns.

Heading the Peace Corps would ensure Vasquez a measure of global celebrity, particularly in developing nations. Former directors have used the post as a career springboard. Elaine Chao went on to head the United Way and is now U.S. secretary of labor. Paul Coverdell ran the agency under the elder Bush, and in 1992 he was elected to the U.S. Senate from Georgia.

For years, Vasquez’s conservative politics denied him political acceptance among Latinos at home, but that wall is breaking down, said Rueben Martinez, a Democratic activist and owner of Martinez Bookstore in Santa Ana.

Rifts remain over civil rights and immigration, but Vasquez would be a good choice based on “his passion, which makes him deserving,” Martinez said.

“I have noticed some really good changes, including ones that have shown that his heart is in a good place,” Martinez said. “He has paid his dues and suffered a lot because of his points of view, but he has a passion for the Latino community.”

Vasquez’s experiences during the bankruptcy “made him a better person today,” Martinez said.

Auxiliary Bishop Jaime Soto, Orange County’s ranking Latino Catholic clergyman, said the nomination gives the Latino community “a chance to also show their own maturity in terms of moving on from the bankruptcy to seeing Gaddi’s gifts and allowing him to continue working for the community.”

Cynthia P. Coad, chairwoman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, welcomed the announcement. “I think [Vasquez] would be perfect,” she said. “He has a lot of vision and could put some zip back into the Peace Corps.”

Coad said Vasquez’s strengths lie in his Latino roots and his bilingualism, which give him the “global cultural view” needed to head such an agency.

Jo Ellen Allen, director of public affairs for Edison’s southern region and vice chairwoman of the Orange County Republican Party, said the appointment would make good use of two of Vasquez’s strengths: public speaking and “superb” presentation skills. “I think it’s great. It’s a job tailor-made for Gaddi.”

The Peace Corps, created in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, has more than 7,300 volunteers serving in 77 nations. Since its creation, more than 163,000 Americans have served in 135 nations.

Once a background check is completed, the White House will submit Vasquez’s nomination to the Senate. California’s Democratic senators--Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer--declined comment Wednesday.

Bush today is scheduled to sign legislation at a White House ceremony that names the Peace Corps headquarters in downtown Washington after Coverdell, who died a year ago.

*

Chen reported from Washington. Times staff writers Scott Martelle and Dan Weikel in Orange County also contributed to this report.