Swobe steps down

Reno attorney Coe Swobe, one of the founders of the bi-state Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, has resigned from its governing board.

Swobe, who has also been an assistant U.S. Attorney, two-term Nevada assemblymember and two-term Nevada senator, did not give a reason for his resignation but expressed a wish that he be replaced by a “fire expert or a strong advocate of fire prevention in the Lake Tahoe Basin.”

In a rapid appointment process that drew criticism from Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller, Swobe was replaced by corporate communications executive Roy Clason Jr. Clason is apparently a newcomer to the Tahoe basin, having acquired real estate at Zephyr Cove in 2004.

During his senate tenure, Swobe worked with Nevada Gov. Paul Laxalt to create the bi-state agency in an effort to protect the Lake Tahoe environment. Swobe told one newspaper then, “Polluted water does not respect county or state boundaries.”

The TRPA in its original configuration was relatively weak because decisions had to win a majority of both the Nevada and California delegations on the governing board. That was changed in 1980 to a simple majority of the combined delegations.