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The Log • Feb. 26 - Mar. 10, 2016 • 3 Coastal Commission ouster spawns new legislation
Proposed bill calls for greater transparency.
By Parimal M. Rohit
STATEWIDE — It did not take long for an attempt to legislate change to rise from the aftermath of the California Coastal Commission’s decision to ouster Charles Lester as executive director.
Assembly members Toni Atkins (D-
San Diego) and Mark Stone (D-Scotts Valley) announced plans to introduce legislation prohibiting lobbyists from wooing a commissioner’s support without the public’s knowledge. The state legislators hope the law proposal would help restore faith in a Coastal Commission currently suffering from a battered image after firing an executive director who doubled as an environ- mental steward. The decision to fire Lester on Feb. 10 was made behind closed doors; nei- ther the 12 commissioners who voted nor Lester himself offered any explana- tion as to why the executive director was being fired. There were hints Lester was relieved of his duties for failing to return commissioner phone calls and not providing commissioners with a consistent policy direction to help guide their votes. Not revealing the reasons for
Lester’s firing and a 7-5 vote occurring
behind closed doors despite over- whelming pleas from the public for an open hearing caused many to believe the commission’s ouster of its execu- tive director was motivated by special interests – specifically developers seek- ing to build larger projects on prime coastal real estate. Atkins and Stone hope requiring the commissioner-lobbyist relationship be transparent will quell concerns the Coastal Commission would be behold- en to developers and ultimately priva- tize stretches of the California coast. “Given the depth of the failure of the commission to address its own concerns, and given that this failure clearly results from the inappropriate influence of lobbyists through activi- ties that constitute a violation of public disclosure laws in virtually all other interactions with California governing boards, I will jointly introduce, along with Atkins and other colleagues, to close this loophole,” Stone stated in an open letter to the Coastal Commission on Feb. 11. “It is my hope that this legislation will end the unethical, opaque practice of allowing lobbyists to lobby commis- sioners without the public’s knowledge on who is being represented or what is being requested,” Stone continued. A news report about the planned piece of legislation stated Atkins and Stone had a hand in re-appointing
ers’ obligation to address that deficien- cy in appropriate ways. “It is a dereliction of duty to com- plain about a deficiency without using the commission’s power to respond to the deficiency,” Stone continued. “These commissioners have blamed Lester for what actually amounts to their own failure.” A handful of California’s federal rep-
Commissioner Mark Vargas, one of the seven commissioners who voted to fire Lester. Atkins took to Twitter to apologize for the commission’s Feb. 10 decision. “Let me apologize to the public. I
truly thought my appointees would be better stewards of the coast,” Atkins said, making a veiled reference to Vargas. Stone’s open letter to the Coastal
Commission on Feb. 11 stated the con- cerns individual commissioners might have had about Lester’s performance were misplaced. “Prior to the vote to remove the
director, certain commissioners blamed Lester, and by extension, you as staff, for certain deficiencies which are actually the responsibilities of the commissioners to address,” Stone wrote in his open letter, which is cur- rently posted on his Facebook page. “When an organizational deficiency at a governing board exists, such as a lack of staff diversity, it is the commission-
resentatives, such as Rep. Ted Lieu (D- Santa Monica), urged the commission to either retain Lester or ensure the hearing to decide his job is entirely held in public. “For many years there has been a tension between those who would like to see more development along the coast and those who feel strongly that Californians should be granted broad public access to our coast,” Lieu stated in a letter to commissioners. “It appears Charles Lester … has been placed in the middle of a heightened debate about these polar views.” Lieu requested the commission give
Lester a right to appeal should the public agency rule against him. Commissioners narrowly voted to
remove Lester from his position as executive director on Feb. 10 after a lengthy public hearing and closed ses- sion meeting. Several hundred people, almost unanimously, spoke in favor of Lester remaining aboard as executive See LEGISLATION page 15
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