Davis Names Ex-Brown Aide to Run EPA

SACRAMENTO —  For the second time, Gov.-elect Gray Davis on Tuesday reached to the staff that served his Democratic predecessor--Jerry Brown--to find a top environmental officer for his own administration.

Davis’ choice to lead the California Environmental Protection Agency is Winston Hickox, a former environmental undersecretary for Brown and past president of an influential lobbying organization, the California League of Conservation Voters.

In the Brown administration, Hickox worked for Mary Nichols, who was appointed this month by Davis to be secretary of resources. Like Hickox, Nichols is a former officer from the League of Conservation Voters.

“I’d say the league has done fairly well,” said Sam Schuckhat, executive director of the League of Conservation Voters. “Gray has shown a commitment to enviro issues by these two key appointments, both of whom are lifelong card-carrying enviros.”

Davis also named his secretary to the trade and commerce agency Tuesday--Lon Hatamiya.

Hatamiya, whose family was interned during World War II, was described in a Davis announcement as the first Asian Pacific American to hold a Cabinet position in a California governor’s administration.

He was appointed in 1993 by President Clinton as head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s marketing service. In 1997, he became head of the agency’s foreign agriculture service, overseeing an international staff of 1,000 federal trade workers.

“I look forward to carrying out [Davis’] agenda of strengthening trade with Mexico and our Pacific Rim trading partners and building a bridge between business constituencies and government,” Hatamiya said.

Hatamiya, 39, was educated in law and business at UCLA and Harvard. He is from a third-generation Central Valley farming family in Marysville.

“I am confident that Lon will work to carry out my goal of expanding trade opportunities for Central Valley farmers and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, for Southern California biomedical companies and the entertainment industry,” Davis said in a statement Tuesday.

The state Trade and Commerce Agency, created when Gov. Pete Wilson merged the state’s trade and commerce offices, is the chief state government contact for businesses. Representatives from the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Business Roundtable were unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Wilson also created the California Environmental Protection Agency in hopes of merging the various state offices that regulated the environment. But environmental organizations have never been happy with its operation, complaining that it is ineffective and too sympathetic to business interests.

Michael Paparian, lobbyist for the Sierra Club, had high hopes that Hickox would change the agency’s role. “I think he’ll help restore some of the confidence that’s been lost in the ability of EPA to operate correctly,” Paparian said.

Hickox, 54, is also an alternate member of the California Coastal Commission and a former managing director for a real estate investment firm. He said he brings a unique combination of environmental and business experience to the office.

“Without a healthy business economy, we don’t have anything in terms of the resources to protect and husband our natural resources,” Hickox said. “We have to get rid of these perceived adversarial relationships and learn how to work together.”

Tuesday’s announcements leave only two of Davis’ 12 Cabinet positions unfilled--veterans affairs and the corrections department.

In another appointment Tuesday, Davis named Marty Morgenstern to head the Department of Personnel Administration. Morgenstern, 64, is a former employee relations officer for the state and recently served as chair of the Center for Research and Education at UC Berkeley.