Smog Board Appointee Faces Ouster

Gov. Pete Wilson’s sole appointee to the Southland’s smog-fighting board is likely to be ousted today, largely because he is mounting an effort to replace the agency’s top executives, according to Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer.

Cody Cluff, a Los Angeles entertainment industry promoter, has served on the South Coast Air Quality Management District board since December, but his seat hinges on confirmation by the Senate.

Calling Cluff unqualified, “reckless and disruptive to continued progress toward cleaner air in the Los Angeles area,” Lockyer said the three Democrats on the five-member Senate Rules Committee, which he leads, will support unseating Cluff at a hearing Monday.

“There could be some dramatic testimony that would change people’s current inclinations, but I think there are three members inclined to vote against him,” Lockyer (D-Hayward) said.

Cluff said Lockyer’s prediction is “not a surprise, but I don’t think it’s quite over yet. I continue to have good support from labor and many elected officials and some key environmentalists.”

The removal of Wilson’s appointee comes at a pivotal time for the smog board, when it is likely to soon discard its executive leaders and hire new ones.

Last month, the AQMD board deadlocked 6 to 6 whether to replace the agency’s longtime executive officer, James M. Lents, and four of his top executives. Another vote by the AQMD board comes June 13, and Cluff is one of the leaders of the movement to oust Lents.

Because Cluff can remain on the AQMD board for 60 days after the Senate vote, Lents probably won’t keep his job unless another AQMD board member changes his or her mind. If no majority of seven emerges, the contracts automatically expire July 31, so Lents and the other four executives must leave.

Many observers, environmentalists and AQMD staffers suspect that the move to eliminate Lents is designed to ease the attack on smog. The AQMD is responsible for ensuring that Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties comply with national health standards for air pollution. The region, which has the nation’s worst air quality, has waged a costly 50-year quest to clean it up.

But the bickering over Cluff also exemplifies the growing battles between the Democrat-controlled Senate and the governor’s lame-duck administration. An earlier Wilson appointee to the AQMD, conservative lawyer and media commentator Hugh Hewitt, was rejected by Senate leaders last year, as were appointees to other committees and agencies.

Matt Taggart, a spokesman for Wilson, defended the appointment of Cluff, saying that he “clearly meets the qualifications for the position” and has “broad knowledge of air quality issues facing Los Angeles and the district.”

Lockyer acknowledged that the Senate cannot short-circuit Cluff’s part in the effort to oust Lents but contends that Cluff’s defeat would send a message to Wilson to “appoint people who meet the statutory qualifications and people who won’t recklessly disrupt air pollution control efforts.”

The AQMD, where Lents has been chief executive since 1986, is known internationally for its pioneering and aggressive approaches to cleaning the air.

Some AQMD board members say a change in management does not mean they will ease smog regulations. Some say they are seeking new executives more responsive to them as board members, some are personally dissatisfied with how Lents manages, while others want a manager more conciliatory to businesses, city leaders and conservative state legislators.

Cluff said Lents lacks energy, enthusiasm and vision. He also said he wants the AQMD to be more responsive to the needs of small businesses and to conduct major downsizing of the staff.

He said the feud over his appointment “appears to be a political battle to show who’s king,” he said.

As president of the nonprofit Entertainment Industry Development Corp., Cluff, a Republican, promotes Los Angeles as an entertainment center. He is one of Mayor Richard Riordan’s former deputies and served on a local industry air-quality task force.

The state health and safety code requires that the governor’s AQMD appointee be either a physician with expertise in the “health effects of air pollution, an environmental engineer, a chemist, a meteorologist or a specialist in air pollution control.”