GOVERNOR APPOINTS 4 TO CALIFORNIA ARTS COUNCIL

At the 11th hour Thursday, Gov. George Deukmejian appointed four new members to the California Arts Council, 24 hours before the first council meeting of the year today in San Francisco.

The appointments favor minorities, as was expected by observers, as well as rural communities, which was considered less likely. The governor named Jerry Yoshitomi, director of the downtown Los Angeles Japanese American Cultural and Community Center; Nick Coussoulis, head of a Redlands development company that bears his name; Randy Washington, president of a Santa Monica architecture firm, and Sally Arnot, a Eureka arts administrator and patron. All but Yoshitomi, a Democrat, are Republican.

The governor also reappointed Republican Laurel Dickranian, a development officer of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The five members will serve four-year terms on the 11-member, 10-year-old state arts council.

Council Director Robert Reid, who had recommended candidates to fill the new posts, said he was partly pleased with Thursday’s appointments. Reid, a Republican, and several outgoing council members had hoped to see some working artists named.

“We were real successful in filling the multicultural (ethnic minority) and rural recruitment,” Reid said, “though not so successful with working artists. But I’m confident this council and our staff represents all the artists in the state.”