Friday, January 22, 2010
Page 3
Governor Names Three Attorneys to Posts Around the State
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday named Monrovia attorney Peter C. Hoffman to the New Motor Vehicle Board, inactive Gardena attorney Paul Schifino to the Contractors State License Board, and former federal prosecutor Matthew Bettenhausen to the California Emergency Council.
Hoffman, 59, has served as president of Sierra Autocars since 1996, after spending seven years as its vice president.
Prior to that, Hoffman spent eight years with Nossaman, Guthner, Knox and Elliott, as an intern, associate then partner. He also served as a legal intern for the Solar Energy Research Institute in 1979 and as technical staff for the Hughes Aircraft Company from 1976 to 1978.
A Democrat, Hoffman attended the University of Notre Dame and went to law school at UCLA before being admitted to practice in 1981.
Appointment to the New Motor Vehicle Board, which is charged by the Legislature with regulating and settling disputes in the new vehicle industry, does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem.
Schifino, 48, has owned and served as president of Junior Steel Company since 2003 and Anvil Steel Corporation since 1996.
Before registering as inactive with the State Bar in 1999, Schifino was a partner in Schifino and Lindon from 1992 to 1996, an associate at Strook and Strook and Lavan from 1990 to 1992, and adjunct professor at Georgetown University from 1987 to 1989.
A graduate of Loyola University in New Orleans and Georgetown University Law School, Schifino was admitted to the State Bar in 1990.
His position on the Contractors State License Board, which oversees licensing and regulating California’s construction industry, requires Senate confirmation and provides compensation of $100 per diem.
Schifino is registered decline-to-state.
Bettenhausen, 49, has served as secretary for the California Emergency Management Agency since 2009 after spending three years as director of the Office of Homeland Security.
Before that, he served as director of state and territorial coordination for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from 2003 to 2005 and deputy governor for criminal justice and public safety and special counsel to the Governor of Illinois from 2000 to 2003.
From 1987 to 2000, Bettenhausen was a federal prosecutor and served in several supervisory positions within the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago.
Bettenhausen serves as the elected chair of the National Governors Association’s Homeland Security Advisors Council and elected co-chair of the National Homeland Security Consortium. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano recently appointed him to serve on the Homeland Security Advisory System Task Force as well.
He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a degree in Accountancy and also earned his law degree, with honors, from the university.
His position on the Emergency Council does not require Senate confirmation and there is no salary. Bettenhausen is a Republican.
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