Sacramento

Gov. George Deukmejian’s appointment of former U. S. Rep. Clair Burgener to the University of California Board of Regents was approved Wednesday by a Senate committee, despite criticism from some Latino groups.

The Rules Committee, by a 4-0 vote, recommended that the full Senate confirm Burgener, a conservative Republican who represented a San Diego-area district in the House of Representatives from 1973 to 1982. He was also a member of the Legislature from 1963 to 1973.

Arnold Torres of the American GI Forum, a Latino group, questioned whether Burgener would be a forceful representative for Latinos and other minority groups that are under-represented in the UC system.

“We need a person who will be a crusader, who will break down barriers,” Torres said.

Burgener, president of the state Personnel Board, defended its decision overturning an administrative law judge’s ruling that a Latino state official had been improperly removed from his post.

He said the official had been dismissed from a post that did not have Civil Service protection, and had been returned to a Civil Service position. “It may have been wrong, but that was our judgment,” he said.

He promised the Rules Committee that he would “work for equality and a better shake for Latinos . . . and anyone else who isn’t getting a fair shake” from the university.

Eric Vega of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund said his group does not oppose Burgener. “He seems like a reasonable man,” Vega said. “He seems willing to make noise about the under-representation of Hispanics” in the university system.