Shake-Up at Coastal Commission

SAN FRANCISCO -- Environmental activist Sara Wan stepped down as chairwoman of the California Coastal Commission on Wednesday, saying it was clear to her that Gov. Gray Davis and Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson wanted her replaced as leader of the panel that wields enormous power over oceanfront development.

But the 12-member panel, torn by philosophical differences and personal animosities, deadlocked on votes to pick a successor, with six commissioners voting in favor of one of Wan’s most outspoken critics and six for one of her supporters. The matter will be taken up again in January.

During her three years as chairwoman, Wan led a majority of commissioners who embarrassed the governor in his relationship with the president of Mexico by opposing a salt-mining operation, proposed by the Mexican government, in a Baja lagoon where gray whales nurse their young. She also angered Davis by forcing developers to scale back building plans in the Bolsa Chica wetlands in Orange County.

Wan stirred the wrath of oceanfront homeowners -- particularly in her hometown of Malibu -- by championing public access to the beach and tightening restrictions on where houses can be built in wildlife habitat.

Spokesmen for the governor and the speaker denied any attempts to pressure Wan to quit.

Wan’s decision not to seek a fourth yearlong term as chairwoman capped weeks of lobbying and politicking over the leadership of the commission, which functions like a planning board by approving and denying construction projects along California’s 1,150-mile coastline.

“I have managed to accomplish things that may make some people angry, but also may help to protect and preserve this place for future generations,” Wan told supporters who packed a commission meeting at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

Although she will remain on the board, Wan said it was time to pull out of a “very political, very divisive and very personal” chairmanship fight when she learned the governor’s office and Assembly speaker were lobbying her fellow commissioners to pick someone else.

That candidate, Commissioner Dave Potter, said Wan was exaggerating the political influence coming from Sacramento. “I don’t think anybody got their arm broken,” he said.

Potter, who also is a Monterey County supervisor, agreed that the election fight had become too personal, including what he called unfair attacks on his concrete-paving business, his voting record on environmental issues, and minor conflicts that required him to return campaign donations to developers.

“She’s an extreme environmentalist,” Potter said of Wan. “I’m just an environmentalist,” adding that commissioners seemed to get along better when some of them were Republicans, rather than all Democrats, like the current panel. “This is Democrats eating their own.”

The fight over the chairmanship reflects tensions in Sacramento among California’s Democratic leaders, including Davis, Wesson and state Senate President Pro Tem John Burton. Each appoints four of the 12 commissioners.

It’s a division of power that was designed to make political meddling more difficult as the panel determines the fate of coastal developments proposed by people with easy access to the governor and the Legislature.

Controversial Projects

In the next few years, the commission will have to deal with politically charged projects, including one to build more housing in the Ballona wetlands in West Los Angeles and the final size of a housing development next to the Bolsa Chica wetlands. Upcoming projects also will include a new Pebble Beach golf course being pushed by Clint Eastwood, and Donald Trump’s proposal to upgrade and privatize a cliff-side golf course on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Patricia Soto, a spokeswoman for Wesson, said “the speaker did not have a hand in Wan’s decision to withdraw from the race.” Soto said it was only natural for Potter, a Wesson appointee, to become chairman because he is in line for the job as vice chairman and for Wesson’s other appointees to support him.

Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for the governor, denied that Davis had a direct hand in the matter. “The governor didn’t make a single call to his appointees,” he said. “If there was a massive conspiracy to dump her, the governor would have made those calls and the votes of his appointees would have been four to nothing.”

Instead, Davis’ appointees split their votes. Two of them -- Cynthia McClain-Hill and Gregg Hart -- supported Potter. Two others -- Christina Desser and John Woolley -- broke ranks and voted for Mike Reilly, who was presented at the last moment as an alternative to Wan. Reilly had the backing of the Sierra Club and other environmental activists who jammed the meeting.

Desser commended Wan for a “very noble and responsible act” of stepping aside to end the fractious debate that has hamstrung the commission in recent months. She called on Commissioner Potter to withdraw his name from consideration as chairman.

Commissioner Shirley Dettloff, a Huntington Beach councilwoman, also threw her support behind Reilly, who is a Sonoma County supervisor. She called Reilly “the right person to heal the wounds of the past several months and lead the commission.”

But Reilly could not initially muster the votes to end the fracas, forcing the dissension to fester for another month. The decision was deadlocked between him and Potter.

Late in the day, Wesson’s appointees sought to hold another vote. Soto said they were prepared to support Reilly. But McClain-Hill, who has been leading the crusade to oust Wan and who backs Potter, objected to going ahead with the vote. Unanimous consent was needed to bring up the matter again.

Potter declined to step aside for the sake of harmony, saying he had become entrenched in his position because the “extremists had mounted a personal attack on me, especially that I’m not a good environmentalist and other insults and untruths.”

Accusation

He accused Mark Massara, manager of the Sierra Club’s coastal programs, of mischaracterizing his environmental positions in a widely circulated e-mailed newsletter called Coastwatch. Earlier this year, Massara helped lead a campaign of activists urging Wesson not to reappoint Potter to the commission.

According to the Sierra Club’s report card on key votes, Potter scored only a 20% last year. Wan, by comparison, voted the environmentally correct way 66% of the time. The Coastal Commission casts hundreds of votes every year on various projects, from massive developments to the construction or remodeling of single-family homes perched along the coastline.

Last year, under Wan’s leadership, the Coastal Commission approved 82% of the 649 projects that came to a vote. That compares to an 88% approval rate of coastal projects during the last year of the previous chairman, Rusty Areias.

“Sara Wan, unfortunately, is the recipient of a political beating for her outspoken advocacy of coastal protection,” Massara said. “It shows how politicians in Sacramento don’t appreciate the overwhelming public support for preserving the coast.”

Massara pointed out that Wan is a member of an environmental group -- Vote the Coast -- that withheld support for Davis’ reelection in November.

Mary Nichols, California’s resources director and a Davis appointee, said she thought it was a politically naive move on the part of Wan’s group.

“Politicians do pay attention to who endorses them and who doesn’t,” Nichols said.