‘No Kings’ Doesn’t Apply in California

“No Kings” protests have been breaking out all over California, even in the quaint village of Cambria on the central coast. In effect, for nearly three decades, that town was ruled by the closest equivalent of a monarch since the days of Spanish colonialism.

As King Arthur (Graham Chapman) noted in the Monty Python Holy Grail film, “you don’t vote for kings,” and that was true of Peter Douglas. Born in Germany in 1942, Douglas came to the United States in the early 1950s and earned undergraduate and law degrees from UCLA. In 1972, three years after the Santa Barbara oil spill, Douglas co-authored Proposition 20, the ballot initiative that created the California Coastal Commission (CCC), a temporary 15-member commission to impose land-use regulations along the state coastline.

Douglas also co-authored the California Coastal Act of 1976, which made the CCC permanent. In 1977, Douglas became the Commission’s deputy director, and in 1985, he was appointed executive director. The CCC overrides the elected governments—and by extension the voters—of coastal city and county governments on vital land-use issues. A regulatory zealot of breathtaking arrogance, Douglas took full advantage.

As the Pacific Legal Foundation explains in The California Coastal Commission: A Story of Power, Extortion, and Ruin, the CCC ran roughshod over property rights, forcing California homeowners into court. In 1987, the CCC wanted the Nollans to give up a piece of their beachfront property in Ventura County as a condition of approval for replacing their small bungalow with a larger house.

In Nollan v. California Coastal Commission, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this an illegal “taking” of private property, with no connection to any legitimate government interest. This defeat did not change the regal, predatory nature of the Commission, which combined Stalinist regulation with Mafia-style corruption.

By blocking development, the CCC made the coast unaffordable for working Californians. At the same time, the Commission shook down wealthy Hollywood figures such as Sylvester Stallone, Blake Edwards, and Barry Diller for bribes, which they refused to pay. In 1993, California Coastal Commissioner Mark Nathanson drew 57 months in prison and a $200,000.00 fine for racketeering and money laundering charges. That sparked little if any reform with the Commission.

In 2011, at a Sacramento event attended by this writer, Douglas claimed that most of the horror stories about the Commission were only a “distortion.” Douglas conceded that one commissioner had served prison time and suggested that one or two others might deserve similar treatment—without providing names.

Douglas ruled the California coast for 26 years without ever facing the voters. He passed away in 2012, and in 2014, the unelected Commission gained the power to bypass the courts and directly assess penalties up to $11,250 per violation per day. In 2021, that fine was extended to any violation of the Coastal Act. Since 2016, the CCC has collected nearly $50 million from property owners, and its actions extend beyond the coastal zone.

In 2022, the California Coastal Commission rejected the Poseidon Water desalination plant in Orange County, a project supported by a bipartisan coalition. That deprived Californians of benefits from their greatest natural asset, the Pacific Ocean.

After the massive Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and Eaton fires in early 2025, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order removing the requirement for fire victims to secure CCC permission to rebuild. According to Katy Grimes of the California Globe, by February 23, 2026, only one of the homes in Pacific Palisades had been rebuilt.

Not a single California governor, Democrat or Republican, has pushed for the elimination of the Coastal Commission. Maybe that will change after the November election. In the meantime, Americans should check their state for regal bureaucrats.

You don’t vote for kings.