COUNCILMAN WILL SERVE ON PAROLE BOARD LOA APPOINTMENT ANNOUNCED; REQUIRES APPROVAL BY SENATE.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

PALMDALE - City Councilman Richard Loa has been appointed to California's parole board, which sets conditions for inmates' release and decides whether to free prisoners serving life terms.

The appointment announced Wednesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office requires confirmation by the state Senate, but Loa can serve for a year while awaiting confirmation, state officials said.

``I applied to serve in the administration in some capacity and they came back and offered me this,'' Loa said Wednesday. ``I'm very excited. I'm thrilled to be part of the Schwarzenegger campaign to reform California.''

Loa, 55, a Republican who supported Schwarzenegger's gubernatorial campaign, has been a deputy alternate public defender - representing criminal defendants who can't afford their own attorneys - for Los Angeles County since 1994. Also a real estate broker, he has been on the Palmdale council since 2001.

Loa said he will leave his job as an alternate public defender but believes his Board of Prison Terms work - which involves hearings in Sacramento and at prisons around California - can be scheduled so he can keep his council seat.

``My hope is we can work it out so I can stay on the City Council,'' Loa said. ``That's my understanding: that we'll be able to work it out.''

Paying $99,693 a year, the Board of Prison Terms post is a full-time position, state officials said. The board consists of nine commissioners appointed by the governor and approved by the Senate for staggered four-year terms.

Loa said he was told the board had been short two members and was facing a backlog of decisions involving prisoners sentenced to life in prison but eligible for parole. He is report to Sacramento on April 19, he said.