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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><h1><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>Report: Former Santa Cruz legislator John Laird named to the top natural resources post by Jerry Brown<o:p></o:p></span></h1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>By Lisa M. Krieger, Paul Rogers and Kurtis Alexander Bay Area News Group<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#000088'>Posted: 01/01/2011 03:22:44 PM PST<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#000088'>Updated: 01/01/2011 09:38:38 PM PST<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=bodytext><b><span style='color:black'>Gov.-elect Jerry Brown is expected to appoint former Santa Cruz legislator John Laird head of the state Natural Resources Agency, sources said Saturday -- a role that will give the environmental advocate a powerful voice in oversight of logging, fishing, farming, parks and water policies.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p><b><span style='color:black'>The appointment, likely to be announced after Brown's swearing-in this week, suggests the governor-elect is hewing to his liberal principals, despite much talk about bipartisanship in the face of the state's budget disaster.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p><b><span style='color:black'>If named to the secretary's post, Laird faces an agenda that includes some of California's most contentious issues. One of the most immediate will be the decline of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a major link in the state's water supply; a state bond, designed to address the numerous pressures on the delta, is expected to go before voters in 2012. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p><b><span style='color:black'>Other problems include underfunding of the state park system and a shortage of wildlife wardens.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p><b><span style='color:black'>Brown adviser Steve Glazer would not confirm the news -- announced by the advocacy group Environment California and confirmed by several sources familiar with the selection -- saying that all cabinet appointments will be announced only after Brown takes office Monday. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p><b><span style='color:black'>Laird, 60, declined to comment.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>His political life, which started on the Santa Cruz City Council three decades ago, has been marked by environmental advocacy. On the council, he led fights against offshore oil drilling</span><span style='color:black'> </span></b><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>and pushed for the designation of the Monterey Bay as a national marine sanctuary. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p><b><span style='color:black'>As a Democratic assemblyman in a district stretching from Morgan Hill to Big Sur, he co-authored California's landmark climate bill, AB 32; promoted water conservation; expanded the development of renewable energy and sustainable building standards; protected oil spill response funding; and established the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, a state agency designed to protect the mountain region. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p><b><span style='color:black'>He earned a score of 100 percent from the California League of Conservation Voters, which called him "hands-down one of the best legislators California has had this decade." <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p><b><span style='color:black'>Laird also is considered an expert on state finances, having led the Assembly's powerful Budget Committee.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p><b><span style='color:black'>Only six months ago, he was denied a Central Coast Senate seat in a special election to replace Abel Maldonado; Laird lost the District 15 race to Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo. Since then, Laird has been teaching at UC Santa Cruz.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p><b><span style='color:black'>The position -- which pays about $175,000 a year -- requires confirmation from the state Senate, and San Jose State political science professor Larry Gerston predicted Laird will face resistance. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p><b><span style='color:black'>"Laird is a well-known, outspoken environmentalist," Gerston said. "He knows his stuff." But, Gerston predicted, people who believe the state is moving too quickly on environmental issues "will not be happy with John Laird and will consider it an affront to business."<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p><b><span style='color:black'>Indeed, state Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring blasted the move. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p><b><span style='color:black'>"An appointment like John Laird, to me, is an indicator of how far to the left Jerry Brown is reaching to populate his administration," said Nehring, a former member of the state Board of Forestry. "John Laird is an extreme liberal, and he believes the only way to protect the environment is to make government as big and intrusive as possible."<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p><b><span style='color:black'>Environmentalists, meanwhile, celebrated.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p><b><span style='color:black'>"It is a brilliant appointment," said Ann Notthoff, California Advocacy director of the Natural Resources Defense Council.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p><b><span style='color:black'>"John Laird knows resource issues," she said. "And he really knows how the state budget works, with a lot of innovative ideas about how to stretch scarce state dollars -- which will be one of the biggest challenges this year."<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=tagline><b><span style='color:black'>Contact Lisa M. Krieger at <a href="mailto:lkrieger@mercurynews.com">lkrieger@mercurynews.com</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>john laird<br>Age: 60 <br>Home: Santa Cruz<br>Party: Democratic<br>Career: Analyst, Santa Cruz County Administrative Office, 1974-1978, 1979-1991, 1995-2002; Santa Cruz City Council, 1981-1990; mayor, 1983-84 and 1987-88; executive director of Santa Cruz AIDS Project, 1991-1994; California Assemblyman, 2002-2008<br>Personal: One of the first openly gay mayors in the United States and one of the first two openly gay men to serve in the state Legislature.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:#948A54'>Byron Leydecker, JcT<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:#948A54'>Chair, Friends of Trinity River<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:#948A54'>PO Box 2327<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:#948A54'>Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:#948A54'>415 383 4810 land<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:#948A54'>415 519 4810 mobile<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><i><u><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:#4F81BD'>bwl3@comcast.net <o:p></o:p></span></u></i></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><i><u><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:#4F81BD'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org <o:p></o:p></span></u></i></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><i><u><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:#4F81BD'>http://www.fotr.org<o:p></o:p></span></u></i></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>