Muse of the Week: Stewardship

I recently came across this quotation in my research. It wafted up like a breath of fresh air from the table of the archives where I was working. Unfortunately, the operative word here is "archives," i.e., it wasn't uttered recently, but it's an instructive piece of evidence that even in a contentious climate (and it was one when this quotation was first uttered), political figures can make the choice to follow the high road. Hooray for stewardship!

So: for the fun of it, any guesses as to who originally spoke these words? Later, I'll post some hints to narrow it down.

“Well, Norm, I can’t judge things in that kind of a context, whether I’m going to be elected, or unelected. I think it makes you too nervous and it makes you too political and it also makes you too cowardly. So, what you’ve got to do is surround yourself with the best advisors, use your head as wisely as you can, use their advice as wisely as you can and beat out the best kind of program on a broad area to serve the State.... And that’s the only consideration. In other words, I’ve got to think not so much about the next election as the next generation. And I hope I cleave to that kind of a context for everything I do in this office.”

Hint #1: This comes to us from 1969, in the Pacific time zone...

Hint #2: The speaker was a state-level official...

Third and final hint: He is especially well known for advocating state land-use laws...