Struggle for power at coastal regulator after leader’s firing
The California Coastal Commission’s firing of its executive director amid an outcry over the perceived influence of big-money developers has left the powerful regulator in a state of confusion as it seeks to move forward from a unique fight that appears far from over.
The heated debate over the immediate future and long-term mission of the agency did not cool off after Wednesday’s 7-5 vote to sack Charles Lester, with thinly veiled allegations of racism and intolerance hurled between commissioners
and Lester’s staunchest supporter, the Surfrider Foundation.
Mark Vargas, a commissioner who voted to fire Lester, attacked Surfrider in a series of tweets, saying the foundation’s management is “100% white” and out of touch with minority communities.
“Surfrider rep summons me to a meeting next week ... fails to see the pattern of entitlement and condescension toward minorities,” tweeted Vargas, a green building specialist appointed to the commission in 2013 by Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins — who is now furious about Lester’s removal, but is barred by law from yanking Vargas.
Vargas was one of several on the board who cited a lack of diversity on the Coastal Commission staff, among other things, as a reason to get rid of Lester during Wednesday’s daylong hearing in Morro Bay (San Luis Obispo). A 2014 staff report to the commission says it is composed of 29.5 percent ethnic minorities.
‘Need a new commission’
Surfrider, an advocacy group that surfers created more than 30 years ago to fight coastal development, is not backing down. Its representatives were among those accusing Vargas and his “development-oriented” cohorts of pushing Lester’s ouster to appease builders and rich movie stars who wanted to construct Malibu mansions.
“We the activists who came in throngs don’t believe we need a new leader. We think we need a new commission,” said Stefanie Sekich-Quinn, Surfrider’s coastal preservation manager, who wept after the decision Wednesday night.
“We’re gonna start hitting districts. We’re going to make sure that this commission is replaced by people who uphold the Coastal Act,” she said, referring to the landmark law Gov. Jerry Brown signed in 1976 during his first stint as governor, “and who do not hang out behind closed doors with people who have some nefarious interests.”
The commission was created by voter initiative in 1972 to regulate development and protect the California coastline for future generations. Although it is not a household name like the EPA, it is widely considered the most powerful and effective coastal protection agency in the country and possibly the world.
The agency’s first challenge is finding a new leader. The 12 commissioners have sole responsibility for hiring and firing the executive director, and now must decide how to proceed. They could hire an interim director, conduct a search and invite in applicants, or simply appoint someone they already have in mind.
Three of the four past executive directors — Michael Fischer, Peter Douglas and Lester — were hired from inside. The exception was the first leader, Joe Bodovitz, hired in 1972 after the initiative creating the commission passed.
The commissioners have yet to discuss who to appoint as an interim director or set up procedures to search for a permanent leader. That means, at least for now, Lester’s chief deputy, Susan Hansch, will handle administrative duties, and his senior deputy, Jack Ainsworth, will preside over meetings, according to administrative protocol.
Whatever the commissioners decide to do, it is likely to be met with suspicion, judging by the hostile reaction to Lester’s firing.
Accusation of kowtowing
Kathryn Phillips, the director of Sierra Club California, accused commissioners of kowtowing to developers and real estate lobbyists “who have pounded a steady drumbeat of complaint against Lester” for his work protecting the coast.
Assemblyman Mark Stone, D-Santa Cruz, said he would co-sponsor legislation with Atkins and others to tighten rules on lobbying the commission. He also wrote an open letter to agency staffers saying that the commissioners above them had, in terminating Lester, sent a dangerous message — that the staffers had “pushed developers too far” while reviewing their plans.
“The people of California clearly feel very differently,” Stone wrote.
The commissioners who voted to push Lester out — Vargas, Martha McClure, Erik Howell, Wendy Mitchell, Effie Turnbull-Sanders, Roberto Uranga and Olga Diaz — strongly denied that pressure from development interests had anything to do with it. They pointed to poor communication between commissioners and the 163-member staff, lack of outreach to minority communities and a lack of staff diversity.
Turnbull-Sanders, a Los Angeles attorney and the only African American commissioner, complained that there were few minority voices in the audience Wednesday.
She, Howell and McClure were appointed by Gov. Brown, whose office has the authority to name four commissioners. Mitchell, a Sacramento lobbyist and the alleged leader of last week’s firing, was appointed in 2010 by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Assembly speaker and the Senate Rules Committee both get four appointments.
After the vote, Atkins tweeted, “Let me apologize to the public. I truly thought my appointees would be better stewards of the coast.” She later explained in a statement that she couldn’t legally pull back any of those appointees.
Minorities being ignored?
All who voted against Lester expressed concern that minorities were being ignored in the process of saving the coast.
“It should not be the exclusive right of the elite to be able to go to the beach and see the sunset,” Turnbull-Sanders said. “Are we talking to working families, including people of color, and talking to urban organizations when we make decisions about the coast?”
Vargas was the most adamant, tweeting Thursday that California is “more non-white than white,” but is dominated by environmental nonprofit groups that “are led almost entirely by whites — this needs to change.”
Commission staffers insisted Lester had made great progress hiring minorities despite difficulty finding applicants.
One issue shadowing last week’s debate, insiders said, is the strong conservative Latino voting bloc in the Central Valley and Southern California, whose representatives often oppose environmental legislation and coastal building restrictions. When the commissioners talk about wanting more diversity, some commission employees said, what they really want are more minorities who support development along the coast.
Support for Lester
Marce Gutierrez-Graudins, the founder and director of Azul, a project working with Latinos on coastal and ocean conservation issues, said Lester championed her work and that her voice and her work were ignored when the commission fired him.
“How do we grow and diversify the environmental movement if we ignore the work of the people of color?” she asked. “There is a lot the mainstream environmental movement needs to improve, but saying that we were not there does not help.”
Vanessa Miller, an associate government program analyst and a commission staffer in San Francisco for 23 years, defended her boss during the hearing and broke down in tears when he was fired.
“We are in every office,” said Miller, who is African American. “The feeling from staff is that it is unfair to say we have no diversity when we do.”
Opponents of Lester also cited slow, inefficient work by the agency’s staff and a lack of constructive dialogue with the commissioners — an allegation that staffers said may have more to do with the relative inexperience of the recently appointed members.
“Communication has been an issue,” Lester said, but he added that “communication is a two way street, and I feel like I am a good communicator, generally speaking.”
1,000 people at meeting
The decision to get rid of Lester came in defiance of at least 1,000 people who filled a Morro Bay meeting hall Wednesday and spilled out onto the grounds of the building. Thousands of letters from legislators, former commissioners, mayors and supervisors urged the commission to spare a man they described as the most powerful and effective guardian of the California coastline.
What is certain in the aftermath of the ouster, said Jim Wickett, a former commissioner, is that the next executive director will have a lot of work to do to build public trust and repair the damage caused by the recent turmoil.
“Whoever takes over will know the last guy was terminated for political reasons, and therefore his or her reports will be more politically influenced,” Wicket said. “Therefore, the tone of the commission will change up and down the coast.”