Grudge Claimed in Lewis’ Opposition to Appointee

SACRAMENTO — No one can accuse state Sen. John R. Lewis of amnesia.

In recent days, the Orange Republican has worked behind the scenes in an effort to derail Gov. Pete Wilson’s appointment of Rosemary E. Thakar to the California State University Board of Trustees.

Thakar just happens to be the mother of Lewis’ opponent in the 1992 Republican primary election, Newport Beach attorney Todd Thakar.

During that battle, the younger Thakar criticized Lewis as an effete “career politician” who is simply taking up space in the Capitol. Although the senator went on to drub Thakar by a nearly 2-1 margin in the primary, Lewis was none too pleased by the highly personal tone of the criticism he absorbed on the stump.

Today, Thakar and his mother contend that the lawmaker’s effort to block her appointment to the state university board is little more than a bald attempt to extract political pay-back.

“If he has a problem with me, that’s fine. But don’t take it out on my mother,” said Todd Thakar, who served as intergovernmental affairs director for Wilson during the governor’s days in the U.S. Senate. “It appears to be motivated strictly by revenge.”

Rosemary Thakar, a San Francisco philanthropist who co-owns a furniture manufacturing and sales chain, was even more peeved by the efforts of Lewis, who persuaded Senate Republicans to hold back the confirmation last Thursday.

“I think it’s totally retaliatory,” she said. “It’s laughable. Lewis is such a silly man. This is so pathetically obvious I just don’t see where he thinks he’s coming from and how he can with a straight face present any objection to my nomination.”

Lewis could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but his top aide said the senator worked to block Thakar’s appointment more out of concerns about her credentials than irritation at her offspring.

“I couldn’t say politics are not a factor at all, but it’s certainly not the principal reason the senator opposes her,” said Chris Jones, chief of staff for Lewis. “We just believe she’s not the right person for this slot.”

Jones said Rosemary Thakar is not the sort of “strong taxpayer advocate” needed at a time when university trustees are under fire for handing out plum salaries and severance packages to administrators in recent years, while student fees continued to rise.

“The senator feels we need a stronger fiscal conservative, someone who is not afraid to shake up the administrative Establishment and make cutbacks in salaries and perks,” Jones said. “She’s more of a liberal Republican, more one to favor big government.”

Jones also argued that Thakar has “no special expertise” to handle the position. Instead, she won the appointment because she is a Republican moderate active in Bay Area politics, he said.

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Since 1989, Rosemary Thakar has contributed more than $12,000 to the governor, according to campaign disclosure statements. She also helped her son’s 1992 campaign by loaning or contributing more than $14,000. In 1984 and again in 1986, she ran unsuccessfully for Congress against Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez).

“We really do not believe this is the kind of person we should be putting on these boards,” Jones concluded.

Rosemary Thakar said such critiques are well off the mark. She noted that her nomination was unanimously approved in committee, even earning the support of Democrats. Moreover, she pointed to her decade-long service on the president’s advisory board at San Francisco State University as proof that she is well aware of the foibles of the university system.

“I think I bring a broad experience range,” she said. “All my philanthropic activity has always focused on improving the lot of young people. I’m a lifelong volunteer, and I’m someone who has put five boys through college myself.”

Since her appointment by Wilson on March 1, 1993, Thakar has been attending meetings of the state university board as a voting member. As are many gubernatorial appointees, she is eligible to fill the seat for a year before the Senate acts on the confirmation. The Senate will reconsider her confirmation Thursday.

Thakar downplayed the effect her contributions to the governor may have had on her appointment. “Am I supposed to have influenced the governor because I made minor political contributions?” she asked. “I like the governor, I like what he has done and I contribute to his political campaigns.”