Panel Says No to Gov.’s Appointee

A key state Senate committee refused Wednesday to confirm Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s choice of industry lobbyist Cindy Tuck to chair the California Air Resources Board, an appointment that had sharply divided business groups and conservationists.

On a 3-2, party line vote, including a no vote from Democratic Senate leader Don Perata of Oakland, the Senate Rules Committee rejected Tuck, who was described by supporters and detractors alike as a savvy, personable representative for oil companies and electric power generators on environmental matters.

“It is just difficult for me to reconcile that background with the history” of the California Air Resources Board, an aggressive agency renowned for adopting some of the most ambitious air pollution regulations in the world and that has never before been chaired by a lobbyist, said Sen. Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey).

The rejection was a political setback for Schwarzenegger, who has sought to portray himself as a “green” Republican whose innovative environmental positions brought business interests and conservationists together.

The governor initially garnered environmentalists’ praise for appointing several green activists to top posts, but has disappointed environmentalists lately by selecting a number of business-backed representatives for positions protecting, air, water and natural resources.

Though Wednesday’s committee vote did not immediately derail Tuck’s appointment, lawmakers said it would be highly unusual for the Democrat-controlled Senate to confirm a candidate who had been rejected by the committee. The full Senate is expected to consider Tuck’s appointment as early as today.

“Cindy is the right person for this job. Her more than 20 years of experience with air and water quality, coupled with her education in environmental engineering, make Cindy uniquely qualified for this position,” the governor said in a statement after the vote on Tuck, who was trained as a civil engineer and attorney.

“I ask the Senate to give Cindy the opportunity to continue and build upon this proven track record of protecting California’s air quality in this important role,” he said.

The appointment of Tuck, whose last job was as general counsel for the California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance, a Sacramento lobbying group, was strongly supported by agricultural interests and business trade groups, which argued that she would bring objectivity and balance to the air board.

It was opposed with equal vigor by virtually every major environmental and public health organization in California, which argued that Tuck’s history of working for organizations that opposed strong air quality regulations raised serious questions about her commitment to cleaning the air.

Both sides packed the crowded committee hearing Wednesday. The hearing also attracted several top members of Schwarzenegger’s staff, including Cabinet Secretary Terry Tamminen, the former head of a Santa Monica environmental group, and state Environmental Protection Secretary Alan Lloyd, an air pollution scientist and former chairman of the air board.

When supporters of Tuck were asked to come forward, a line of lobbyists quickly swelled beyond the doors of the committee chambers. It included representatives of nearly all of California’s major polluting businesses, including the pesticide, oil, agriculture and metalworking industries. No environmental groups backed Tuck.

“No one is going to pass any line of baloney on her about what business can’t do to clean the air,” said Barry Broad, a lobbyist for the Teamsters Union, which also supported Tuck.

When foes were asked to come forward, the line included representatives of nearly every major environmental and public health organization in the state.

One environmentalist, Jane Williams of California Communities Against Toxics, gave an emotional speech in which she described Tuck’s opposition to measures that were intended to address environmental justice for minorities and the poor. Williams interspersed information on Tuck’s professional accomplishments with the names and ages of children who had been diagnosed with brain cancer in neighborhoods beset by pollution.

“Ms. Tuck, and the organizations she has lobbied for, consistently opposed good air quality regulations,” said Bonnie Holmes-Gen of the American Lung Assn.

Tuck argued to the committee that her past actions as a business lobbyist should not be interpreted as representing her personal feelings on air quality issues, and said she would be a fair, aggressive regulator.

“I did not pursue this position to represent the business community,” Tuck said. “That would be the wrong thing to do.

“I am not beholden to any outside organization,” she said, adding that “having been an effective advocate, that is a good skill for this position.”

Republican lawmakers defended Tuck and said no one had questioned her technical qualifications for the job, or her record of working together with different stakeholders.

But Perata and the committee’s other Democrats said that although Tuck would be a fine public servant in another position, allowing her to lead the air board would set a bad precedent.

“This is simply the wrong person,” said Donna Gerber, a lobbyist for the California Nurses Assn., which opposed Tuck. “The fox should not guard the chickens, and we would be foolish to think that would work.”