COASTAL COMMISSION REALIGNED : BUSTAMANTE REMOVES 4 GOP APPOINTEES CALLED PRO-DEVELOPMENT.

Byline: Eric Wahlgren Daily News Staff Writer

A Calabasas GOP political consultant and three other panelists were booted off the California Coastal Commission Friday by new Assembly Speaker Cruz Bustamante.

The shake-up came as Democrats - who regained control of the Assembly in the November election - flexed their muscles over the 12-member commission some said had too many pro-development members.

Arnold Steinberg, who served on the panel for about six months, blamed his ouster on partisan politics and Speaker Pro Tem Sheila Kuehl, D-Encino.

In particular, the Republican pollster and consultant said he believes he and the three others were removed as part of an arrangement Bustamante made with Kuehl and other Assembly Democrats to ensure Bustamante was selected speaker.

``It seems like an Assembly political coalition or deal with Speaker Pro Tem Kuehl, who has been a sharp critic of mine,'' Steinberg said. ``I just think I am the victim of a political coalition that was put together to elect a new speaker and that part of the deal was my scalp.''

Kuehl dismissed Steinberg's claim, saying Assembly members never tied their support for Bustamante to the removal of the commissioners.

``I am not surprised that he sees everything in terms of some sort of conspiracy,'' Kuehl said. ``The truth is that there was no deal. I told Cruz that if either one of us mustered more votes, then the other should graciously acquiesce.''

Through a spokesman, Bustamante said he dismissed the four commissioners appointed in May by then-Speaker Curt Pringle, R-Garden Grove, because they failed to show a commitment to protecting the state's coastline.

``The speaker is looking for balance,'' said his spokesman Rick Battson. ``He clearly did not see a balance in these members. They were openly quoted as being anti-public access, anti-protection.''

If all four of the yet-to-be-made new appointments are Democrats, the ratio of Democrats to Republicans on the commission would flip from 4-8 to 8-4.

John Nelson, a Pringle spokesman, said there was ``zero truth'' to statements that Steinberg, Sonoma land-use consultant Patricia Randa, Santa Cruz County Supervisor Ray Belgard and San Diego City Councilman Byron Wear had pro-development biases.

Nelson added that the four had broken new ground by pushing for audits of the commission and calling for the hiring of an ombudsman to help homeowners deal with the agency, which sets guidelines for development along the coast.

``They made great strides in making the Coastal Commission fair, open and honest,'' said Nelson, stating that Pringle stood by his appointments.

Nelson and others critical of Bustamante's move predicted the new appointees could lead to a commission more prone to impose restrictions on development, including the hotly debated expansion of Soka University near Calabasas.

The school south of the community won approval from Los Angeles County Thursday to more than double the size of its campus. In exchange, the campus has agreed to turn about 90 percent of its property into parkland or buffer areas where building will be restricted for 25 years.

The Coastal Commission is expected to review the university's request for a permit late next year.

``The odds are less for them with a new makeup of the commission,'' said Roger Osenbaugh, a former member of the Coastal Commission, who now represents property owners seeking permits from the panel. ``Before, you had eight people who were more supportive of that type of development.''

But Kuehl said based on Bustamante's reputation as a moderate, the commission will not necessarily shut down development.

``It depends very much on who is appointed, but it will be pretty balanced, I believe,'' Kuehl said.

Environmentalists hailed Bustamante's action Friday - one of his first as new speaker - and said the ousters show that Sacramento politicians are listening to Californians' concerns about the coast.

``I think the signals are pretty clear,'' said Mel Nutter, chair of the League for Coastal Protection. ``Having Curt Pringle find the most objectionable folks to stick on the commission was not acceptable when you have got a public that seems to care as much as they do about California's coastal resources.''

Environmentalists particularly opposed Steinberg, who in the late 1980s built home in excess of 4,500 square feet in the Santa Monica Mountains coastal zone that did not comply with the permit he got from the commission.

Without admitting any wrongdoing, Steinberg later agreed to purchase and donate a nearby piece of land for $165,000 to create open space as a way to settle the litigation.

Steinberg said that in light of his experience with the commission, he joined the panel to help homeowners and individual property owners, not big business, navigate the agency.