Iseman gets state agency seat
Barbara Diamond
The state Legislature Rules Committee confirmed Tuesday the
appointment of Laguna Beach Mayor Toni Iseman to the California
Coastal Commission.
“I got a call Tuesday asking if I was willing to serve,” Iseman
said. “I was honored.”
Iseman replaces Shirley Detloff on the commission. The seat is
reserved for an elected official from Los Angeles or Orange County,
according to Iseman. State Senate majority leader John Burton
nominated Iseman.
“Since it was a Burton appointment, it was probably going to be a
Democrat,” said Iseman, a member of the Laguna Beach Democratic Club.
Burton selected Iseman from a field of elected officials that
included Debbie Cook, Huntington Beach; Chris Mears, Irvine; Paul
Yost, Seal Beach; and Janice Hahn, sister of L.A. Mayor Hahn. Two
Orange County supervisors, both Republicans, reportedly also applied.
“It was an amazing field,” Iseman said. “However, L.A. had another
commissioner, and with Shirley leaving, Orange County would have had
none.
Iseman had no personal interview with Burton. All contacts were by
telephone and letter, Iseman said.
County environmentalists first approached Iseman last summer about
applying for the seat.
Her roots in the environmental community run deep.
“Ironically, my first venture into environmental issues was before
the coastal commission,” Iseman said.
She went there at the request of a neighbor to protest development
on a water course just south of her Laguna Beach home.
Recently she was “outed” as the Phantom who had posted Burma
Shave-type signs in Laguna Canyon that protested the construction of
the San Joaquin Hills Toll Road through the open space. She was a
Laguna Greenbelt Inc. board member for years and is a member of the
Laguna Canyon Conservancy.
As a council member, Iseman has taken an interest in the bluebelt
as well as the greenbelt.
She co-chairs the city’s Wastewater Advisory Committee with
Councilman Wayne Baglin and has served for two years on the South
Orange County Wastewater Authority.
Last year, before taking on the responsibility as mayor, Iseman
represented the city on the Orange County Coastal Coalition and the
Laguna Coast Greenbelt Authority. She was an alternate on the Aliso
Creek Watershed Task Force.
Iseman, 57, began her second term on the council in December, when
she was elected mayor by the council. She was the top vote-getter in
the November council election. Iseman has lived in Laguna Beach for
30 years.
Her first meeting as a commissioner will be Feb. 4 in San Diego.
The commission meets on the first Tuesday of the month, as does the
City Council. Meeting sites alternate between Northern and Southern
California.
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