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.