Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has reappointed his former scheduler to a six-figure state Integrated Waste Management Board position despite his desire to eliminate the panel, his office announced Friday.
Margo Reid Brown, 45, will earn $132,179 for sitting on the waste board, where she has served as chairwoman since 2006. Brown was Schwarzenegger's scheduling director from 2004 to 2006.
The Legislature and Schwarzenegger have appointed termed-out legislators Carole Migden, Sheila Kuehl and John Laird in the past three months to waste board positions paying identical six-figure salaries. Schwarzenegger has called for the board's elimination, which his office estimates would save $2 million to $3 million in garbage and recycling fees that pay for its budget.
"Until the board is eliminated and its functions are streamlined through legislation, the governor is obligated to continue to fill positions in order for important state functions to continue," said Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Rachel Cameron.
The governor also announced Friday that he appointed former Assemblywoman Sharon Runner to the Agricultural Labor Relations Board.
Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger reappointed his longtime bodybuilding friend, Richard Tyler, to the state's Board of Chiropractic Examiners. Tyler, a Rocklin chiropractor, picked up Schwarzenegger from the airport when the young Austrian bodybuilder arrived in California in 1968.
Tyler was chairman of the board in 2007 when The Bee reported that the panel violated open-meeting laws, fired its executive director in an illegal fashion and applied weak enforcement to the chiropractic profession. A state audit in 2008 issued similar findings. The board said it agreed with most of the audit's recommendations and that it was already working to apply them.
"The board has made some mistakes, but we believe they are back on track," Cameron said. "They are working more closely with the Department of Consumer Affairs to get things in order. We still believe Richard Tyler is eminently qualified to continue serving the people of California in this role."
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