Newsom Announces Batch of Appointments, Including CPUC Chief Policy Advisor and Dental and Water Board Seats
California Governor Gavin Newsom on October 14 announced a batch of appointments spanning the Office of the President of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), the Dental Board of California, the Dental Hygiene Board of California and three regional water quality control boards.
Michael Mullaney, of Sacramento, has been appointed Chief Policy Advisor to the President of the California Public Utilities Commission, with compensation of $201,432. The position does not require Senate confirmation. Mullaney is a longtime CPUC staffer: he joined the Commission's Office of Governmental Affairs as a legislative liaison in 2017 and was appointed Special Advisor to the Office of the President in 2020. From 2013 to 2017, he served in the Office of Governor Edmund Brown Jr., including as assistant legislative secretary and legislative assistant.
On the Dental Board of California, Cara Miyasaki, of San Jose, has been newly appointed. Kevin Cheng, of San Marino, has been reappointed; he is a construction director at City of Hope and serves as a city planning commissioner. Ram Vaderhobli, of Belmont, has also been reappointed; he is a dentistry professor at the University of California, San Francisco. Members of the board receive per diem compensation of $100.
On the Dental Hygiene Board of California, Monika Lee, of Sacramento, has been newly appointed. Reappointed were Sonia "Pat" Hansen, of Concord; Sridevi Ponnala, of Fremont; Naleni Tribble-Agarwal, of Newark; and Sherman King, of San Francisco. King is a director of the Salvation Army in San Francisco's Chinatown and a member of the Chinese-American engineering and technology association. Members of the board receive per diem compensation of $100.
On the regional water boards, Denise Kadara, of Allensworth, has been reappointed to the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. Peter Satin, of Palm Desert, has been reappointed to the Colorado River Basin Regional Water Quality Control Board. Michael Mendez, of Los Angeles, has been reappointed to the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board; Mendez is an associate professor at the University of California, Irvine. All three water board appointments require Senate confirmation, and members receive per diem compensation of $250. According to the registration information in the Governor's Office release, all of the appointees named above are registered Democrats except Kevin Cheng and Ram Vaderhobli, who are registered without party preference.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 位于萨克拉门托的加州议会大厦。Andre m／Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 3.0
