Sara Wan ousted from Coastal Commission chair; Sonoma County supervisor takes over the gavel
By Arnold G. York/Publisher
Sara Wan’s three-year hold on the chair of the California Coastal Commission was pried loose last week at the commission hearing in San Francisco, when she finally removed herself from contention after it became clear she could not muster the necessary seven votes to retain the chair for another year. She will, however, retain her position as a coastal commissioner.
Wan told the Associated Press that she withdrew because “the election has divided the commission.” This was probably an accurate, if understated, description of a battle that left some commissioners barely speaking to each other.
Wan and her allies attacked both Gov. Gray Davis and Speaker Herb Wesson for not going along with Wan’s retention as chair. She also attempted to characterize the battle as a major defeat for the environment, and orchestrated an attack by the Sierra Club against David Potter, vice-chair of the commission, for being a lackey of development interests, particularly for Clint Eastwood who wants to build a golf course in Monterrey.
Potter, who had served three years as vice-chair, was heir apparent to assume the commission chair but was pushed out in favor of Sonoma County Supervisor Mike Reilly, and Dr. William Burke, the husband of L.A. County Supervisor Yvonne Burke, was named as vice chair.
Reilly is the Sonoma County Supervisor who represents a supervisoral district that includes coastline from Marin to Mendocino. He is a liberal Democrat who has frequently voted with Wan and her faction in the past, but has a reputation as a more pragmatic, moderate individual, with a much less aggressive leadership style than Wan. He also has experience in Sacramento as a legislative aide and is a seasoned political player. It was Reilly, who, after voting to approve the Malibu LCP, suggested that the City of Malibu might want to refine its demands and then suggested they come back to the commission with some changes or even an amended LCP.
Although observers were divided about what role the Malibu LCP battle played in Wan’s removal, what it had pointed out were the deep schisms in the commission that divided the group into two occasionally-and personally-antagonistic camps, which Wan’s critics charged was exacerbated by her often harsh manner of dealing with people who disagreed with her. She also manipulated the powers of the chair to push what critics charged was frequently an environmental extremist agenda. Wan, for her part, has always been a staunch advocate of coastal protection and public access, and has been little inclined to compromise on anything she saw as the basic protections of the coastal act.
Wan and her husband, Dr. Larry Wan, who is a former mayor of the City of Malibu, were also major players in Democratic coastal politics. They, along with Susan Jordan, a close friend who is married to fellow Coastal Commissioner Pedro Nava, had formed a political action committee called Vote the Coast several years ago.
The group had been very successful in helping to get candidates elected to the Legislature who shared their environmental views, and in the process, helped to turn the Assembly from Republican to Democratic. This enhanced Wan’s clout with the Democratic political community.
Lately, she had clashed with the Davis and Wesson, and had gone public in the press, accusing them of attempting to oust her as the chair of the commission so they could replace her with a chair who would be more amenable to their moneyed campaign contributors.
Some have said that Wan’s tendency to see anyone who disagreed with her as corrupt and prepared to sell out the environment has created many of her own problems. She also tended to personalize many of the political battles.
There are a number of people in Malibu who were longtime friends of Wan, and former supporters of her husband, whom she will no longer talk to because of their outspoken opposition to the Malibu LCP.
In a surprising show of unity, once it was clear that Reilly had the necessary votes to be elected chair, the commission vote was unanimous.