Ex-assemblyman Gordon to head California Forestry Association

Rich Gordon, a former member of the state Assembly and the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, has dropped plans to run for another elective office, a seat on a state tax board.

Mr. Gordon said he has accepted an offer to be president and chief executive of the California Forestry Association, a post he will take on July 17. He’ll be leaving the government-relations position he’s had since January with Caminar for Mental Health in San Mateo, he said in an interview.

As the forestry association’s chief executive, Mr. Gordon will work four days a week in Sacramento and telecommute on the fifth. He will retain his home in Menlo Oaks, he said.

In the Assembly, Mr. Gordon was a reliable voice in defense of the environment. He did not seek out the trade group for a job, he said. They found him. “It was like a call out of the blue,” he said. After some “very candid and frank conversations, I came to the conclusion that this would be a very interesting assignment, and they came to the conclusion that they wanted me to take that assignment,” he said.

The profit-driven approach of the forestry industry, which includes forest owners and harvesters, saw mills and makers of forest-based products, has been at odds with the environmental community, Mr. Gordon said.

It’s a puzzle. Healthy forests are “really critical to the sustainability of the planet,” he said. “How do you juggle these things to make sure we have sustainability? … I feel very strongly that we human beings are the stewards of this planet. Forest stewardship is a very critical function.”

His first six months will be spent meeting with association members and key people in the environmental community, he said. “In this job, clearly I represent the interests of the members and the industry,” he said. “I think the challenge will be trying to work with the industry and the members to highlight what they do that benefits the environment, and to work with the environmental community to figure out how to do all of that better.”

Why he’s not running

It’s been a restless six months for Mr. Gordon. Not long after he was termed out of the Assembly in December 2016, and after he joined Caminar, he made known his plans to run in 2018 for a seat on the state Board of Equalization.

The board’s responsibilities have executive, quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial components, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office. Board members are individually elected and oversee the property tax assessment practices of all 58 counties and the collection of over $60 billion in tax revenues — about 30 percent of the state’s income.

The board also hears appeals from taxpayers objecting to board decisions on property, business and income tax assessments.

After researching the job, Mr. Gordon decided he no longer wants it. It’s too easy, he said, for a board member to sidestep a rule to not participate in decisions affecting individuals or corporations who donate more than $250 to that member’s election campaign fund.

And board members can talk in private with appellants about matters before the board without having to disclose to whom they talked or what they talked about, he said. Administrative law judges should be hearing these appeals, Mr. Gordon said.

“This does not fit my ethics,” he told the Almanac. “How do you run for something that you don’t think should be an elected office in the first place?”

Reform ahead?

Others are also looking askance. The state Legislative Analyst’s Office, in a June 7 report, said it considers the board’s situation to be “extremely difficult — if not impossible — for a single entity to perform all of these functions effectively.”

The five-member board, commissioned in 1879, has been an issue for the Analyst’s Office since at least 1949. A budget analysis from that year refers to the board’s efficiency as “below maximum” due in part to board members’ feelings of personal responsibility for administering tax matters in their districts, and a resulting lack of uniformity among districts in policy, organization, staffing and facilities.

The Sacramento Bee used the term “unseemly hijinks” to refer to the board’s “mysterious” staff salary increases, a lavish office redecoration and the firing and immediate rehiring (to a board member’s staff) of the board’s executive director.

A recent Department of Finance analysis notes that some board members as well as state legislators have “expressed concerns” about aspects of the board’s use of resources for outreach and communications, vacancies, executive pay, furniture and office space.

The Legislature has acted. AB 102, the Taxpayer Transparency and Fairness Act of 2017, was approved largely along party lines in the Assembly and state Senate. Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill on June 27, according to the California Legislative Information website. The bill “strips (the board) of power except for three or four constitutional powers,” Mr. Gordon said.

The bill reassigns 90 percent of the staff, and refers tax appeals to administrative law judges, Mr. Gordon said. “Many of the things that I thought were wrong, this corrects,” he said.

Trade group

At the forestry association, Mr. Gordon will have a staff of five, including one registered lobbyist to the state Legislature and two people following rule-making at the state and federal levels.

Mr. Gordon said he will be talking with legislators, but not until the year-long lobbying prohibition for former legislators expires. Whether he registers as a lobbyist will depend on how much time he spends talking with legislators, he said. “It may well be that I won’t qualify,” he said.

Asked about his salary, he replied that it will be public information, given the nonprofit status of the association. “I will be well compensated,” he said. His husband is excited about his new job, he said. “He’s retired, so I’m not sure he wanted me at home all the time,” he added.

—

Meta’s footprint in Menlo Park is shrinkingJune 11, 2026 10:55 am

Menlo Park resident opens French-Italian bistro and wine bar The RendezvousJune 10, 2026 4:30 pm

Take a peek inside Asia Live, a highly anticipated food emporium opening at Westfield Valley FairJune 10, 2026 4:00 pm