Gov. Gray Davis is known for dragging his feet on executive appointments, but in the weeks since a recall election became reality he has moved quickly to fill more than 200 vacancies in state agencies, boards, commissions and judgeships.

With Senate confirmation needed before today's scheduled adjournment of the Legislature, the governor on Thursday pushed through two nominations to the sought-after University of California Board of Regents -- one for a major donor, the other for an icon in the farm worker movement, who helped deliver the Democratic Latino vote in last November's election.

Since late July, when the secretary of state certified the Oct. 7 election, Davis also has found spots for union leaders, spouses of elected Democrats and people close to some of his top aides, including his chief of staff and Cabinet secretary.
Republicans say the Democratic governor is trying to stack the deck in case he's forced out in the special election.

"There's not a question in my mind about that," said Sen. Ross Johnson, R-Irvine, vice chairman of the Senate Rules Committee.

Davis on Thursday denied any such strategy, saying his appointments since becoming governor in 1999 always have come "in bunches."

"What we're doing now is relatively consistent with that pattern," he said. He acknowledged trying to get through as many confirmation hearings as possible before the Senate adjourns, but says that's only so nominees aren't left hanging until next year.

Johnson disputes that.

"In the last four and a half years, he has moved absolutely at glacier-like speed," he said. "There have been boards and commissions unable to meet because they couldn't establish a quorum, because he'd left so many positions unfilled. Suddenly, with a recall looming, he seems in a frenzy to make appointments."

Of 3,600 positions Davis controls throughout state agencies, boards and commissions, 711 require Senate confirmation. Before the July 23 certification of the election, at least 129 posts requiring confirmation hearings were vacant, according to state records. As of this week, Davis' administration had submitted at least 55 names for consideration for those posts. Confirmation hearings were being fast-tracked by the Democratic-controlled Senate this week.

A Senate majority voted Thursday to let Norman J. Pattiz, founder of the Westwood One radio network and a major Davis contributor, leave his regents post early in order to assume another spot on the same board, which Davis had left vacant for more than a year. Because regents serve 12-year terms, Pattiz is now locked into a spot on the board through 2015, no matter who is governor.

Pattiz's former seat is set to expire next March; until then, it will be filled by Dolores Huerta, a Democratic activist and co-founder of the United Farm Workers, whom Davis tapped hurriedly on Tuesday as part of a deal with Senate Democrats to get Pattiz confirmed.

Most confirmations require a simple majority vote; a small number require two-thirds votes by the Senate. Republicans have succeeded in blocking a dozen such confirmations, including that of California NAACP President Alice Huffman to the California State University Board of Trustees.

GOP leaders say Democrats would do the same if a Republican governor were facing recall.

"A governor ought to have the right to pick anyone he wants," Johnson said. "But this is a pretty unusual circumstance. We may have a new governor in four weeks."

Many appointees serve at the governor's pleasure and could be immediately rescinded if Davis were recalled. Still, putting them in place now gives them an opportunity they might not otherwise have had and gives Democrats at least a temporary ideological advantage in the shaping of state policy. Those appointed to fixed-year positions can serve for a year without confirmation.

Davis spokesman Steve Maviglio acknowledged governors on their way out of office historically have made last-minute appointments. But he maintains that's not what's happening in this case.

"If he were trying to take care of people, you'd think he'd be taking care of the people who are closest to him," Maviglio said. "And he hasn't done that."

But Davis has taken care of some of those advisers' friends and confidants. In the last week, three of chief of staff Lynn Schenk's friends have received appointments.

William Wachob, a political consultant whose firm advised Schenk during her brief congressional career, was named to the Youthful Offender Parole Board, a job that pays $99,693 per year. Laurie Black, Schenk's former chief of staff and a former Davis water board appointee, joins the California Community College Board of Governors. William Bold, Schenk's former legislative director, was named to the Commission of the Californias.

Charles Supple, domestic partner to Davis' Cabinet secretary, Daniel Zingale, and an appointee to another commission, also was named to a paid post on the Youthful Offender Parole Board.

Nadia Davis, wife of Democratic Attorney General Bill Lockyer, was named to an unpaid post on the California Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency.

Twenty-four judges have been named to openings since the recall's certification. Among them is George Eskin of Santa Barbara, the husband of Democratic Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson.