GOLD BEACH — Call it the OPAC Cold War.

 Political fallout from the lack of resolution over the appointment of a person to fill the South Coast seat on the Ocean Policy Advisory Council came to the forefront on Friday when, by a vote of six to five, the council approved halting part of the marine reserves process until Gov. Ted Kulongoski makes a decision.

It’s an old issue that goes back several years. The South Coast seat is supposed to be filled by one of the county commissioners from the southern coastal counties. All of the commissioners in Douglas, Coos and Curry counties have indicated who they want in that position: Coos County Commissioner John Griffith.

On the other side is Kulongoski who, despite several pleas by legislators, associations, private individuals — even OPAC — has not approved Griffith.

And, like the Cold War between Russia and the U.S. and their respective allies after World War II, there is clear, definitive support for both sides — and no indication either side will budge.

“We’ve been talking about this for over two years,” said Jim Pex, the South Coast recreational fishing representative on the council. “We’re going to carry this over to the legislature if we don’t solve this. The governor has the capacity to resolve this in the next couple of days.”

The sticking point came in the afternoon after more than an hour of public testimony about marine reserves and general ocean issues, after talks of aquaculture and the territorial sea plan.

It was time for OPAC to move forward on finalizing some public outreach plans, a timeline and approving a policy document.

But most of those things were ground under the wheels of controversy.

The council started with the simple decision of approving a plan for the public outreach process but some members asked that it be put off until there was a resolution to the filling of the South Coast seat.

The council members did agree that some preliminary outreach work could be started — talking with Oregon State University Sea Grant Extension about the possibility of a hiring an outreach coordinator, for example — but the real issue of a formal plan stalled.

Then the debate was on.

Depoe Bay City Councilor Jack Brown was one of the members who eventually voted against the proposal — but because it wasn’t stringent enough.

“I don’t think we should start (outreach) without that seat filled,” he said.

Paul Englemeyer, a conservation representative from the Audubon Society, disagreed.

“We need to keep moving forward,” Englemeyer said. “Whether the South Coast seat is filled should not be attached to that question.”

“What happens if the governor doesn’t make that decision,” asked Fred Sickle, the non-fishing recreational representative.

Other members affirmed that the outreach process would come to a halt.

“Is that our job, as OPAC, to try to force something” he said.

Key to the whole issue was one of inclusion. Many of the council members feel the South Coast needs a voice — one that can’t be filled by Pex, though he’s from the Bay Area; Terry Thompson, the North Coast county representative; Brad Pettinger, administrator of the Oregon Trawl Commission, even though he lives in Brookings; or even David Allen, the public at-large member, who lives in Newport.

It’s especially important for the South Coast to have a voice, they said, when something as important and controversial as marine reserves requires thorough input.

“We want the person who fills that seat to be part of the decision-making,” Pex said.

Kulongoski’s Natural Resources Policy Adviser Jessica Hamilton questioned what the “resolve” part of the issue meant: “You’re not specifying a person,” she said, with just a hint of a question in her voice.

Oregon Coastal Zone Management Association Executive Director said no — but the only potential candidates for that seat are South Coast county commissioners.

OPAC members, others involved closely with the process and numbers people speaking during the public comment sessions — including Griffith himself — have said repeatedly that the lack of a person filling the South Coast seat is a distraction from the process as a whole.

Most council members felt that progress is finally being made on marine reserves. Hard questions are getting answered and there is open, fundamental debate at the table.

In the end, though, until the Griffith-Kulongoski Cold War is resolved, council members say the marine reserves issue may be stuck in a quagmire from which there is no recovery and the whole OPAC process could be threatened.

“It comes down to credibility and trust,” Allen said.

Throughout the hour-long debate, not once did the council identify by name the man who signed the public sign-in sheet as “John Griffith — So. Counties OPAC.”

 And Griffith, sitting patiently in the audience, never said a word.