The California coastal commission voted 7-5 to fire executive director Charles Lester after a marathon 11-hour meeting on Wednesday, despite the reported 1,000 people—environmentalists, representatives of state legislators, the general public, and even coastal commission staffers themselves—who pleaded for Mr. Lester’s continued employment. Steve Kinsey, the chair of the commission, voted against firing him. Mr. Lester, who has worked at the commission since the ‘90s, has served as the executive director for four and a half years; before that he served as deputy director under longtime head Peter Douglas. In the weeks leading up to the hearing, environmental groups contended that the move to dismiss Mr. Lester was driven by development interests who wanted a leader more favorable to them; they said firing Mr. Lester would send the wrong signal about the commission’s intentions for the coast. But many commissioners blasted that accusation. “That was all a bunch of lies,” said Commissioner Dayna Bochco, adding later that she felt commissioners “were not getting what we need” from Mr. Lester in terms of information on staff determinations. (She ended up voting to keep Mr. Lester.) One commissioner quipped of the development interests, “They never even tried to call.” Many commissioners said the decision stemmed from the feeling that Mr. Lester did not communicate well with them, as well as inconsistencies in staff findings and a lack of diversity of the workforce (an issue contested by commission staff during public comment). If environmental groups or others can dispute some commission decisions, said Mark Vargas, a commissioner from Los Angeles, it is because staff and commissioners “struggle with the shades of gray” that are enshrined in the Coastal Act. Though some environmentalists asked during public testimony why no one had showed up to oppose Mr. Lester—an attempt to point out widespread support for him—one commissioner turned that argument on its head, saying the complete absence of developers or similar interests at the hearing highlighted how they were not, in fact, behind an ouster. After the decision to fire him was announced at around 9:30 p.m., Mr. Lester said he was disappointed. Yet he added, “if there’s any silver lining, I am energized by the people who came together for this,” referring to the hundreds that packed the meeting hall in Morro Bay to support him. The crowd cheered his last words, and then the meeting was adjourned.