California IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : Senate Confirms Wilson Appointees

The state Senate voted overwhelmingly to confirm Gov. Pete Wilson’s appointment of Russell Gould as secretary of health and welfare and James H. Gomez as director of prisons. Gomez, a former chief deputy director of corrections, was approved 36 to 0, while Gould, a career state employee, was confirmed 30 to 1. Gomez left his post as a $130,000 deputy county executive in Santa Clara County to take the $100,000 state prisons post, which is regarded as one of the toughest jobs in state government. He said he wanted the challenge. Gould’s confirmation had been stymied for three weeks by opponents of a proposed radioactive waste dump in the Mojave Desert, who successfully leveraged the Senate confirmation process to win concessions from the Wilson Administration to hold a quasi-judicial hearing on licensing the dump. The hearing will delay the opening of the dump to no sooner than Jan. 1, 1994--a full year after the federal deadline.