Yeah, you can remove the TAB and TAD solenoids, just make sure to follow the vac lines back and plug em. Make sure not to remove / plug off the lines for the HVAC controls... one goes through the firewall, another goes through the inner fender to the resevoir. Both of these should feed off a check valve on the firewall. The check valve and resevoir make for nice, instant control response.
With the TAB and TAD removed, the computer will toss up some codes and set the CEL. But I'm guessing with the smog pump removed, the CEL was already on.
If the PO removed the pump, did he remove the valves and hoses? Were those vac lines to the valves capped off? If not, it would give you some bad vac leaks.