Chamber of Commerce Names Herb Cawthorne Vice President

Herb Cawthorne, who resigned in a veil of secrecy as president of the San Diego Urban League, was named vice president of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce on Thursday.

Cawthorne’s appointment was announced late in the afternoon and came as a surprise. Cawthorne said last month that he was founding a development company to revitalize the downtown and Southeast areas of San Diego. It was not clear Thursday whether he would continue with the previously announced Cawthorne Co.

Chamber officials said Cawthorne, who resigned from the Urban League in June, will begin his new duties today and will be in charge of local government issues, including growth management and downtown redevelopment. He will replace Dorothy Migdal, who died earlier this year after serving 12 years as chamber vice president.

In a four-page written statement released by the chamber, President Lee Grissom is quoted as saying that he was impressed by Cawthorne’s “leadership, vision and passionate commitment to San Diego.” Grissom said he also expects Cawthorne to play a major role in “public safety issues” affecting the city.

The statement included a brief mention of Cawthorne’s recent two-year tenure at the Urban League and ignored the controversy that surrounded his resignation June 7. Cawthorne and other league officials have never explained his sudden departure from a post that made him possibly the city’s most influential black leader.

Cawthorne and his attorney have also refused to comment on allegations of fiscal mismanagement at the league that was reportedly revealed by an internal audit of his spending.

He also served as executive director of the Portland, Ore., Urban League before coming to San Diego. A Portland newspaper reported in May that league officials there were blaming Cawthorne for huge debts that had been piled up by the organization.

According to chamber officials, Cawthorne graduated from the University of Oregon and taught for 12 years at Portland State and the University of Oregon.

Neither Cawthorne nor Grissom could be reached for comment Thursday night.

During last year’s citywide campaign on growth controls, Cawthorne energetically spoke out against the most restrictive slow-growth proposals, which he said would be economically detrimental to the black community.