Mr. Regulations advocates less.

Business Secretary Thomas Sayles runs California's regulatory agencies but urges fewer regulations

Tom Sayles' mother, a beautician and real estate agent, was a small-business owner. It was the profits from her hair salon in South Central Los Angeles that helped pay for Sayles' education at Stanford University and Harvard Law School.

So it is little wonder that the new California Secretary of the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency (shown above on-site at the soon-to-open Glenn M. Anderson Freeway, formerly known as the Century Freeway) has a soft spot in his heart for the needs of small business owners and the difficulties that threaten their continued existence.

"I think small business is the backbone of growth in our state," says Sayles.

Visible behind him, as he chats on a couch in his 16th-floor office, is downtown Los Angeles' towering monuments to big business, and much of suburban L.A. as well. Sayles himself has a "big business" background, working in the 1980s as a senior legal counsel for the Space and Technology Group of TRW Inc.

Sayles now manages California's business regulatory departments, but is an advocate of less regulation and a more business-friendly state.

"I find Tom to be a very energetic, very well-organized and focused guy. He is very focused. It's jobs, jobs, jobs with Tom Sayles," comments John Seymour, director of the California Housing Finance Agency. "His management style is, he lets you run with the ball. His management style is, he doesn't smother you."

One reason Sayles doesn't do much smothering of department heads is that, as a Los Angeles native and resident, he prefers to spend at least half his week working out of his office at the Ronald Reagan state government building on Spring Street in downtown L.A. It is a small office -- accommodating himself and a couple members of his support staff, decorated with transit maps and a photograph of rush-hour traffic.

Sayles also maintains an apartment in Sacramento, where his agency is based, and where he spends at least two days per week.

"My job is getting around the state. It's truly a statewide job," says Sayles. In addition to haggling with the Legislature, there are the constant meetings and speaking engagements around California.

Jerry Lipp, chairman of the California Transportation Commission, who frequently works with Sayles on legislative issues, says that, although Sayles represents the governor, "he clearly has the best interests of the state at heart."

"He has repeatedly emphasized to me that our commission, although we are appointed by the governor, is independent," says Lipp. "He's everything I could hope for in working with a secretary. He shows more concern for our commission than other secretaries have."

Still, with all the bureaucrats and influential powerbrokers Sayles deals with, he says he most enjoys speaking to children.

"California is a place where a kid from South Central can get a job like this and go to the schools I did. It's possible, and we have to tell kids it's possible," says Sayles.

"You asked me why I like this job," he continues. "I like this job because it gives me a vantage point to do that sort of thing. ... No one pays attention to the kid in the inner city who's trying to do the right thing."

His earlier answer was that he loves his job "because of the chance to impact public policy and affect the lives of Californians."

As important as his job is, Sayles says he "can not afford to be a permanent government employee," when he knows he can make much more in the private sector than his current $100,000 salary.

Appointed last January by Gov. Pete Wilson, Sayles will only be in this job for an unspecified, but relatively short, period of time, he says. He has a very ambitious list of goals he wants to accomplish before leaving office.

Some of his loftiest goals have to do with transportation. Sayles says he wants to complete the state's new 20-year transportation plan (now in the public comment stage), finish a commission report to the governor on the feasibility of high-speed rail lines across the state, and (if financially feasible) have such lines running in California by the year 2000.

"I know it's soon," Sayles admits. "I'm talking about (high-speed rail) going from San Diego to Sacramento, about an alternative to air travel."

"These trains have conference rooms, fax machines -- you can really work on these trains," he continues, his voice pitch getting higher, as he smiles with delight. "At 6-foot-3, I can't get much done on a plane."

Because of his role as manager of the state transportation program, Sayles also sits as an ex officio (non-voting) member of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which has been plagued by funding-priority arguments, scandals, allegations and investigations, since its inception earlier this year.

"Whatever internal review is necessary, they ought to get on with it so they can clean up their problems and get on with their job," says Sayles. "We're obviously making Caltrans available to sort out whatever problems the MTA wants us to help them with. There are also a couple instances -- I can't say which ones right now -- where I plan to (proactively) offer state support."

But Sayles says, when it comes to the debate at the MTA's budget hearings over funding priorities -- commuter rail construction vs. improvement of the bus system -- "there is a very legitimate argument going on."

"We have to get people out of their cars. We need full conductivity -- from rail to buses -- and full conductivity between cities," says Sayles. "Ultimately, we want a statewide transportation network."

The third part of Sayles' agency's title -- housing -- is equally important to the secretary, especially affordable housing.

Sayles wants 300,000 new housing units priced in the $100,000-to-$200,000 range each year, with government-sponsored programs making it easier for new home buyers to obtain financing and make down payments.

"Without affordable housing, you can't house a work force," comments Seymour, noting the key connection between his agency and Sayles' job-based agenda for economic growth. "He (Sayles) has been very supportive every step of the way. He keeps his eye on the big picture. He's always looking for results."

The Business, Transportation and Housing Agency has a budget of about $7 billion per year -- roughly the same as TRW Inc.'s, Sayles notes. The agency also oversees 13 state departments, including Banking, Savings & Loan, Real Estate, and Corporations (where Sayles was Commissioner of Corporations in 1991-92).

As Commissioner of Corporations, Sayles was responsible for regulating and overseeing the sale of securities in California, the state health maintenance organizations and numerous financial institutions, including credit unions.

Each department has its own director, and Sayles obviously has to delegate authority. But he says he tries "to focus on the most important policy issues" facing each department he oversees.

For example, when it comes to the fraudulent sale of securities, Sayles wants the state's efforts focused on educating the public.

With interest rates in standard investment vehicles continuing to fall, people selling risky investments "come along and say, 'You can't live on that,' and people buy it," notes Sayles, shaking his head. "Some people ask more questions of boy scouts selling cookies at (their) door than they do of (people soliciting investments)."

Despite the mammoth proportions of his statewide duties, Sayles remains devoted to Los Angeles. He served in 1992 as chairman of the Governor's Revitalization Task Force and is a member of the RLA board.

"A number of his departments really do influence business development in the state. He tries to make government responsive," comments RLA Co-Chairman Bernard Kinsey. "He's a businessman in a government role, and we think that's a good combination."

Sayles believes RLA has done a "tremendous job" attracting business investment into Southern California after the April 1992 riots.

"(RLA) may have gotten into trouble where it drifted into other areas, such as education reform and health care reform," he concedes.

Prior to joining the Wilson administration, Sayles served as deputy attorney general in the California Attorney General's Office and as an assistant U.S. Attorney.

He is a member of the Los Angeles Southwest Community College Foundation in South Central. He and his family (wife Valerie, a school teacher, and two children) are parishioners at the First AME (African Methodist Episcopal) Church.

Snapshot

Thomas Sayles

Native of: Los Angeles

Resident of: Ladera Heights

Age: 42

Education: B.A. in political science, Stanford University, 1972; J.D., Harvard University, 1975; certificate of completion, UCLA Executive Management Program, 1988.