Last week, in what has been characterized as a "highly unusual" action, State Senate President 
Pro-Tem Don Perata convened a hastily called meeting of the Senate Rules Committee where, with no notice (and on a party-line vote), he "rushed through" a reappointment of Sara Wan as a State Senate appointee to the California Coastal Commission. Sara Wan is the ultra-liberal former Chairman of the Commission who has been at the center of many controversies. Why would Perata "rush" this at the last minute, on the date her term was set to expire?
First of all, there are really only three groups of people out there who really know who Wan is…
1) The eco-nut, ultra-leftist, anti-human activists (the base from which Wan comes, and from where she derives her support). These folks are the ones who believe that there is some sort of moral equivalance between the El Oro Parakeet and… people!
2) The poor victims of Ms. Wan’s influence on the Commission — which would primarily be those property owners who have gone to extreme lengths to try to mitigate any negative environment impact to the use of their property in the coastal zone, not realizing that there is no such achievable goal with Wan. Her goal would be to render all property on the coast as unusable by humankind.
3) Her fellow Coastal Commissioners and the close group of ‘constituents’ around the Commission (staff, consultants, lobbyists) — all of whom have had to suck-it-up and deal with that fact that Wan is not only liberal, but is probably one of the rudest, meanest and shallow people to hold a position of public trust here in the Golden State.
Over the past few months, I have penned a few stories relating to the Coastal Commission. These have ranged from the Commission’s role in reviewing (and ultimately disapproving) an application to place a needed liquified natural gas platform off of the California coast where it can help get fuel to PEOPLE (the same "people" that Sara Wan likely wishes would simply all move to Arizona, and stop populating coastal California). I have also written about some of the insider-mechanations behind some ill-advised legislation introduced by Assemblyman Lloyd "I don’t have a coastal district" Levine that would have, in practice, ended hotel resort development along the coast. I am convinced that Commission Executive Director Peter Douglas played a key role in having that legislation proposed. But that is a different story.
Why did Senator Perata ‘rush through’ her re-appointment, with no notice (after the back-room "spin" was that she might not be reappointed?) — presumably Perata, who understands how unpopular Wan is with California moderates (never mind the conservatives), did not want to get into a public, protracted debate over whether Wan should be reappointed. Perata chose to listen to the eco-nut activists and now Californians are going to have to endure years more of Wan’s snarky demeanor, questionable dealing, and ultra-left wing views.
PERATA SHOULD HAVE REJECTED WAN’S REAPPOINTMENT
If you need some reasons why Don Perata should have rejected pressure from the eco-nuts and let Sara Wan’s term on the Coastal Commission Expire:
Sara Wan has a big mouth. She yells at people in meetings, and she says rude things from the diaz. On behalf of her special interest eco-nut friends. Here is a video of Wan spewing out her leftist rhetoric, ironically bashing Arnold for attempting to "greenwash" people into thinking he is an environmentalist. It’s enough to make one ill.
Sara Wan is so extreme in her ideology and in her temperment that back in 2002, the Democrats had to clean up their own mess. Wan was actually serving as Chairman of the Commission (all twelve commissioners were Demcrats) and, as it was widely reported in newspapers, now-disgraced former Governor Gray Davis and then-Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson were forced to team up and ‘take her out’ as Chairman. At the time, one of her Commission colleagues even said, "It’s (her) need to win at all costs without regard to what’s true that is patently offensive to me."
Rhetorically, Wan’s head is buried in the sand, but in real life, nutty Sara Wan ACTUALLY laid down on the sand of Malibu Beach until five Sheriff’s Deputies arrived. Why? Because of her ongoing battle with beachfront property owners in Malibu who prefer to not have the public trapsing through their property to get to the ocean. (In Wan’s "ideal world", undoubtedly there would be no home ownership allowed on the coast.)
QUESTIONABLE LEGAL ISSUES
Sara Wan’s past and current involvement with whacked-out environment fringe groups that interact with the Commission, and in some cases, SUE THE COMMISSION is very questionable and shady. For example, Wan is a co-founder of a group called the League for Coastal Protection. This "non-profit" group has been the plaintiff in at least eleven civil lawsuits between 1984 and 2000, most of which were filed against the Coastal Commission. Never mind that Wan was on the Commission at the time, as was the husband of another League founder, now Assemblyman Pedro Nava (a story for another day).
Wan is also the founder of another another "non-profit" group that somehow despite its favorite tax status brags on its own website that it endorses candidates for office – Vote the Coast. A little bit of footwork based on intel from a FR tipster and guess what? Vote the Coast only has one tax form available, and an inquiry to the state Registry of Charitable Trusts revealed that THEY ARE DELINQUENT IN THEIR FILINGS TO THE STAQTE ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE and may be facing PENALTIES.
Perhaps while investigators from the Attorney General’s office are looking into legal issues surrounding Vote the Coast (which, by the way, currently asks site visitors to thank Don Perata for reappointing Wan), the AG’s team can address this question, along with perhaps some federal investigators — Vote the Coast is registered as a 501(c)3 "charity according to the AG’s office — yet here on their website, they advocate political action, including endorsing candidates for office!
Vote the Coast conducts campaigns in key coastal races on behalf of candidates who understand that coastal protection is a priority for the voters and critical to the economic vitality of California.
Note to investigators: If you need to track down the offices of Vote the Coast, according to your website, it is the HOME ADDRESS OF SARA WAN.
You can read more about Wan’s shady dealings by going to Page 7 of this link.
DON PERATA HAS DONE CALIFORNIA A DISSERVICE
The reappointment of Sara Wan is extremely disheartening because, despite the overwhelmingly Democrat membership of the California Coastal Commission, Wan makes "normal" Democrats look reasonable. You can be sure that her continued presence on the Commission will mean two things: property owners along the coast will bear the brunt of her always-unreasonable demands, and her colleagues will probably all get ulcers from having to take more aspirin from Wan-induced headaches.
Senator Perata, the reappointment of Sara Wan is one of the worst things you have done. Whereas former Senate President John Burton had the blame for Wan’s past performance, her whacked-out antics going forward are all on you! Oh, and Senators Ashburn and Dutton, the GOPers on the Rules Committee — their conscience is clear for casting worthy NO votes.
Care to read comments, or make your own about today’s Daily Commentary?
Just click here to go to the FR Weblog, where this Commentary has its own blog post, and where you can read and make comments.