Over the next four years, Newsom will have the opportunity to appoint more than 3,000 people to 32 government entities.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is escorted by Thom Porter, right, to the CalFire Colfax Station in Northern California on Jan. 8. Newsom appointed Porter as director of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. He had been serving as interim director. State of the State speech
Most appointees toil away on boards that rarely pique public interest. But that can change quickly: If drought and wildfire strike or college tuition and gasoline prices spike, boards tasked with overseeing those issues are thrust into the spotlight. The power of a governor’s decision-making on appointments became clear during California’s recent five-year drought, when the State Water Resources Control Board imposed stringent water-use restrictions on urban suppliers and farmers throughout the state.
Construction of California's high-speed rail project in Fresno. Newsom, who had criticized the project's cost overruns, appointed a new leader of the High-Speed Rail Authority. Newsom also has a powerful tool in his appointments to the state Board of Parole Hearings, which could allow him to fulfill his promise to refocus the state corrections system on rehabilitation and, as he said in his inaugural address in January, to “continue the fight against over-incarceration and overcrowding in our prisons.”
Most of Newsom’s executive appointments and his selections for critical regulatory boards require confirmation by the state Senate. “You’ve got a lot of progressive groups looking at California, thinking they can have an impact on progressive policies,” Michelin said. “Especially with healthcare reform being such a big topic. He can put people on all those boards.”
“That happens when politicians get termed out or voted out of office,” Yamaki said. “They come begging to the governor: ‘I need a job.’”Even appointments to the dental board can generate controversy, he said.
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