Yousefian withdraws his nominee

CITY HALL — Councilman Bob Yousefian on Tuesday withdrew his nomination of former aerospace engineer Al Hofmann to the Arts & Culture Commission after it became clear he could not muster enough votes among the City Council members to confirm the appointment.

Hofmann’s qualifications for the arts commission came under heavy scrutiny two weeks ago during the first City Council confirmation hearing, with Mayor John Drayman and Councilman Dave Weaver arguing that the former engineer — whose extensive technical resume includes project management experience for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory — was not suited to help guide the new citywide arts plan.

With Councilman Frank Quintero absent, the council decided to postpone the hearing to avoid a split vote.

On Tuesday, Quintero sided against Hofmann’s appointment to the arts commission, citing the need to recruit more media and arts professionals as the city prepares to dissolve the Arts & Culture Commission in favor of a city-subsidized, nonprofit arts council.

“That has to be the core group, or we’re going to head down a dead-end street like we have been the last couple of years,” Quintero said.

Yousefian’s wife, Sue — who is a professional film music editor-turned Realtor — defended Hofmann’s nomination as a way to ensure a certain amount of “stewardship” in what her husband has previously called “a wayward commission.”

Bob Yousefian also defended his pick, pointing out that history was riddled with artisans who doubled as engineers, and that his project management would prove useful on a city task force to develop the future work plan of the semi-independent arts council.

“What some people see as not his strengths, I see as strengths,” he said. “I did not intend to make this a controversial issue.”

Hofmann also addressed the full City Council, noting his motivation for accepting the nomination was driven by a desire to facilitate the transition of the arts commission to a more independent body.

Councilman Ara Najarian, who sided with Bob Yousefian, criticized Hofmann’s vetting as “excessive,” arguing that under the recently changed appointment system — in which each council member gets one nomination per commission — his colleagues needed “ a certain level of sovereignty, of leeway, in making that decision.”