Friday, May 13, 2011
Page 3
Governor Appoints Two to Commission on Judicial Performance
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Gov. Jerry Brown yesterday selected former U.S. Marshal for the Central District of California Adam Torres and Northern California attorney Nanci Nishimura, previously in private practice in Los Angeles, for appointment to the Commission on Judicial Performance.
The 11-member CJP is an independent state agency responsible for investigating complaints of judicial misconduct and judicial incapacity and for disciplining judges, under Art. VI, section 18 of the California Constitution.
It is comprised of three judges appointed by the California Supreme Court; two attorneys and two non-attorney public members appointed by the governor; two public members appointed by the speaker of the Assembly; and two public members appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules.
Commission members serve four-year terms, and are unpaid. Senate confirmation is not required.
Torres, 47, of Riverside, spent seven years with the Marshal’s Service before becoming managing director of business intelligence and investigations at Stroz Friedberg, a digital risk management firm, in 2010.
He also served as a special agent for the IRS from 1992 to 2003, and as a revenue agent for the six years prior.
Nishimura, 57, is a partner at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy’s Burlingame office, where she has worked since 2002. Before joining the firm, she maintained a practice in Los Angeles for 11 years.
The attorney was a member of the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation from 2004 to 2008.
She was a legislative assistant for Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, in 1988 and was a law clerk to the Overseas Private Investment Corporation in 1988 and the U.S. International Trade Commission in 1987.
In other news, the governor also named Sandra Schubert, 48, of San Francisco, as undersecretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
This position does not require Senate confirmation and the salary is $126,588.
Schubert has worked as a self-employed consultant, providing political, legal, and strategic advice to clients, since 2009.
She was an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center from 2009-10, served as the director of government affairs for the Environmental Working Group from 2007-09, counsel for Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., from 2005-07 and legislative assistant for Sen. Barbara Boxer from 2002-05.
She was legislative counsel for Earthjustice from 2001-02 and vice president of policy and legislation at the Environmental Programs Division for the City of Santa Monica from 1999-2001.
The attorney was also project director for Children’s Health Environmental Coalition from 1996-8 and a program director for Beyond Pesticides from 1993-96.
Torres is registered decline-to-state. Nishimura and Schubert are Democrats.
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