Gov. Jerry Brown Thursday appointed a former Del Mar councilman and gun critic to the 22nd District Agricultural Association Board of Directors and reappointed two other San Diego County residents to the panel.
Brown named Del Mar resident Donald Mosier, 74, to a four-year term on the board that governs the Del Mar Fairgrounds on behalf of the state via a nine-member board of directors.
The board has been in the news most recently for halting the twice-a-year Crossroads of the West gun show at the fairgrounds beginning in 2019.
In 2013, the Del Mar City Council approved a resolution, sponsored by Democrat Mosier, supporting a U.S. Senate bill that would ban assault weapons.
Introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein a month after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, it was defeated in the Senate on April 17, 2013, by a 60-40 vote.
The governor appoints each member of the board to serve a four-year term. The District Agricultural Association is a subdivision of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, charged with holding fairs and exhibitions that highlight “various industries, enterprises, resources, and products of the state,” according to the CDFA.
The governor reappointed attorney Frederick Schenk, 65, and Lisa Barkett, 59, who have served since 2011.
Mosier is the Climate Action Plan facilitator for the city of Del Mar and is a member of multiple governing boards, including the Del Mar Community Connections Board, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Climate Action Campaign Board of Directors. He served on the Del Mar City Council from 2008 to 2016 and was a professor at the Scripps Research Institute from 1992 to 2016.
Barkett, who was vice president of Merjan Financial Corp. from 1989 to 2013, is a member of the Board of Trustees for both the University of Southern California and Rady Children’s Hospital.
The appointments do not require confirmation by the state Senate. The board members are not paid for their service.
— City News Service contributed to this report.
