Ouster of Leading UC Regent Seen

SACRAMENTO — Senate Democratic Leader Bill Lockyer said Thursday that UC Board of Regents Chairman and Republican Party activist Tirso del Junco will be denied confirmation because Democrats consider him too political.

“They disagree with him on a number of philosophical matters, like affirmative action policy,” said Lockyer, chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, which will hold del Junco’s confirmation hearing Monday.

Del Junco, a Los Angeles physician and former state Republican Party chairman, was appointed to the prestigious board in 1985 and renominated for another 12-year term in March by Gov. Pete Wilson.

As a regent, del Junco, a Cuban American, voted with the majority in 1995 to abolish gender- and race-based affirmative action admissions policies in the university system, a decision that sent political shock waves across the country.

The Senate rarely rejects gubernatorial appointees to the UC board. But Lockyer characterized del Junco’s confirmation as “in trouble” with the Democrat-dominated Rules Committee.

“Del Junco doesn’t have any support in the Democratic caucus and, in fact, has significant opposition,” Lockyer said in response to questions. “As a general matter, [Democrats] view him as excessively political, excessively partisan.”

Lockyer, who earlier had urged Wilson to withdraw the nomination, said that the panel will hold the confirmation hearing but that a committee vote will be delayed until later so all Senate Democrats can “participate in the final decision” by letting panel members know their positions.

Without the support of a majority of Democrats on the committee, del Junco would be rejected. While some Democrats strongly oppose him on political and philosophical grounds, others believe no long-term Wilson appointees should be approved until after next year’s elections, when they hope a Democrat may be voted in as governor.

Efforts to contact del Junco were unsuccessful. But retiring veteran UCLA Chancellor Charles E. Young, who has clashed with del Junco, came to his defense.

“They ought not be given litmus tests by the governor or the Legislature,” Young said of nominees to the board. “Tirso del Junco ought not to be thrown off the board because he voted for [scrapping affirmative action].”

Young said in an interview that some newly appointed but as yet unconfirmed UC regents “are voting against their own consciences because they know they won’t be confirmed if they do. That is wrong.” Young did not identify those regents.

Lockyer, a strong partisan and contender for state attorney general in 1998, said the outlook may be brighter for the approval of two other regent appointees, San Diego business executive Peter Preuss and Los Angeles investment executive Gerald L. Parsky. Both enjoy some Democratic support, Lockyer said.

In 1994, Lester Lee, a Chinese American businessman nominated by Wilson, became the first regent ever to be rejected by the Senate.

Lee fell victim to Democratic charges that he was a “rubber stamp” for Wilson and had backed hefty student fee increases while supporting pay raises for administrators.

In a separate development Thursday, Assembly Speaker Cruz Bustamante (D-Fresno), a champion of creating a new UC campus in the San Joaquin Valley, disclosed that friends of del Junco had contacted him to urge his backing of the nominee, who also supports the proposed 10th UC campus.

The speaker did not identify the callers, but said they described del Junco as a “competent” leader. As a result, Bustamante said, he checked with a couple of senators to learn “‘how they feel about the appointment” and “they indicated they would not be supportive” of del Junco.

Bustamante said the chats were the extent of his involvement in the issue.

Times education writer Amy Wallace in Los Angeles contributed to this story.