Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 

Monday, May 17, 2010

 

Page 3

 

Governor Names Attorneys Wilson, Byrne to State Posts

 

By a MetNews Staff Writer

 

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday named Torrance attorney Melinda Wilson to the state’s Rehabilitation Appeals Board and tapped Los Angeles attorney Joseph Byrne to serve on the California Water Commission.

Wilson, 61, has owned and served as attorney of the Law Offices of Melinda G. Wilson since 2004. She worked for the California Department of Rehabilitation as chief deputy director from 2000 to 2003 and assistant deputy director from 1974 to 2000.

A Democrat, Wilson was an adjunct faculty member for San Diego State University School of Education from 2000 to 2003, and is currently a member of the Los Angeles County Schools Dollars for Scholars Advisory Board.

She joined the State Bar in 1996 after attending California State University, Los Angeles and law school at the University of West Los Angeles.

The position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem.

Water Commission Nomination

Byrne, 39, has been a partner in the law office of Burke, Williams and Sorensen since 2008, as a member of the Public Law and Environmental Law/Sustainability Practice groups.

A Democrat, he was previously executive director of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, Region 1 from 2006 to 2008 and an attorney for Mayer Brown from 2002 to 2005.

Byrne was admitted to the State Bar in 1997 and attended UC Berkeley and Notre Dame Law School. He began his legal career as an attorney for Bonne, Bridges, Mueller, O’Keefe and Nichols and worked in the office of then-Assembly Speaker Robert M. Hertzberg as a legislative consultant from 1998 to 2000 and as counsel from 2000 to 2002.

Byrne is a member of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association Board of Directors and the League of California Cities Environmental Quality Policy Committee.

The position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem.

In other news, the governor on Friday also named:

Sacramento attorney Kimberley Delfino, 42, to the Water Commission. Delfino, currently an inactive State Bar member, has been California program director for Defenders of Wildlife since 2000.

Delfino was previously legislative director for the California Public Interest Research Group in 2000. She was a staff attorney for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group from 1997 to 2000 and an associate attorney for Meyer and Glitzenstein from 1994 to 1997.

Registered decline-to-state, she is a member of the Sustainable Conservation Board of Directors. Delfino joined the State Bar in 1993 after graduating from UC Davis and McGeorge School of Law.

Berkeley Attorney

Berkeley attorney Charlton “Chuck” Bonham, 41, to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy. Bonham has worked for Trout Unlimited as California director and senior attorney since 2004 and was director of the organization’s California Water Project and a staff attorney from 2000 to 2004.

Bonham was an instructor for Nantahala Outdoor Center from 1994 to 1997 and a small business development agent in Senegal, West Africa for the U.S. Peace Corps from 1991 to 1993. A Democrat, he is a member of the Pacific Forest Legacy Stewardship Council Board and the Foundation for Youth Investment.

Bonham joined the State Bar in 2000 after attending the University of Georgia and Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Ore.

The position requires Senate confirmation and there is no salary.

San Diego attorney Paul Robinson, 63, to the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority Governing Board. Robinson has served as partner for Hecht Solberg Robinson Goldberg and Bagley since 1982, and was an associate at the firm in the preceding two years.

Admitted to the State Bar in 1973 after graduating from San Diego State University and the University of San Diego School of Law, he served as a deputy city attorney in San Diego from 1973 to 1978, and then as assistant to then-San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson from 1978 to 1980.

A Republican, Robinson is a member of the Real Property and Public Law Sections of the State Bar and the Real Estate and Land Use Sections of the San Diego County Bar Association.

The position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no salary.

 

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