Nestande Will Leave Board of Supervisors : Orange County Politician Resigns After Six Years on the Job and Under Cloud of Moriarty Affair

Orange County Supervisor Bruce Nestande, whose departure had been rumored for months, resigned Wednesday, midway through his second four-year term. Nestande, a former GOP assemblyman and one-time aide to then-Gov. Ronald Reagan, said he would leave office Tuesday to pursue an unspecified career in the private sector.

Nestande, who has been under investigation by federal and local authorities in connection with the political corruption probe involving Anaheim fireworks manufacturer W. Patrick Moriarty, sought unsuccessfully to unseat Secretary of State March Fong Eu in last November’s election. He joined the Board of Supervisors in 1981 after defeating controversial former Vietnam prisoner of war Edison W. Miller. Gov. George Deukmejian will appoint Nestande’s successor.

Nestande, 48, said he timed his resignation announcement to come one day after the board passed a measure he had worked on for nine months to link all development in his district to the building of roads, a measure he said that “translates into no new roads, no new development.”

Didn’t Mention Moriarty

His statement did not mention criminal investigations or Moriarty, who is serving a federal prison sentence on mail fraud charges related to political corruption. Asked if his resignation had anything to do with investigations of Moriarty’s dealings, Nestande said, “No.”

Nestande said he did not know what his next job will be.

Though the timing of Nestande’s announcement was a surprise, the content of his statement was not. For months, Nestande had been telling friends and colleagues on the board that he was thinking of leaving the $55,000-a-year post.

Wednesday morning, he told his staff and fellow supervisors that the day had come: He was stepping down. After shedding the coat of his blue, pin-striped suit and wait ing until the board’s public agenda had been completed, he asked his colleagues for their “indulgence” while he read a statement “concerning my future, which has been speculated on for some time.”

“When a job begins to lose its challenge and becomes routine, then before long boredom sets in and you lose the cutting edge,” Nestande said. “I sense that beginning to occur and want to leave before the challenge is lost.”

“I am going to be a father again, and I have no desire to raise a second family in a political environment,” said Nestande, who remarried after his first marriage ended in divorce. “In addition, next week I’ll be 49, which is a good time to commence a private sector career.

“During the past six years, I have accomplished my major goals as a member of the board. Therefore, it’s now time to make a career change.”

Questions on Landfills

According to persons interviewed by Orange County district attorney investigators and the FBI, authorities have been inquiring about Nestande’s behind-the-scenes support for R.E. Wolfe Enterprises of Orange County. That firm was organized by R.E. Wolfe, a Kansas City contractor, and Moriarty in an effort to win a contract to operate landfills in Orange County.

Sources said that numerous executives of the Irvine Co., some familiar with the county’s landfill operations, have appeared before a federal grand jury in Los Angeles to testify. Also, county employees, some of them knowledgeable about county landfills, have appeared before the grand jury, the sources added.

Jerry Collins, director of media relations for the Irvine Co., said the firm could not comment on questions about the grand jury.

“This is what we have been advised by our counsel,” Collins said.

Proposals to turn over the county’s landfill operations to private firms have been before the Orange County Board of Supervisors for several years. Although it was hotly debated, the idea of using private operators finally was scuttled by the board.

At one point, the Irvine Co., which owns the land on which three county landfills are located, was a proponent of private ownership of the landfills. A proposal under which the Irvine Co. would have taken over a majority of the county landfill operations triggered fears of a monopoly and higher trash rates.

Wolfe Probably Not Called

One source familiar with the investigation said he does not believe Wolfe has been called before the grand jury.

“I think he would have told me if he had been there,” said the source, who agreed to talk if his name was not used. He said the district attorney’s office and the FBI have been investigating Nestande for some time.

Wolfe was not available for comment Wednesday.

Since state and federal officials began investigating Moriarty’s political and banking activities in 1983, Moriarty and 11 others, including five city councilmen, have been convicted of mail fraud stemming from a variety of charges.

Former Moriarty associate Richard Raymond Keith, who is serving a four-year prison term in the federal prison at Boron, told the FBI in 1985 that Nestande tried to solicit a $10,000 campaign contribution for Gov. George Deukmejian’s 1982 campaign in return for helping to steer a contract to operate an Orange County dump to Wolfe.

In reports of interviews conducted by FBI agents, Keith was quoted as saying that the $10,000 campaign contribution was made to Deukmejian by former Moriarty employee Albert Hole, a former state fire marshal.

Nestande denied allegations raised by Keith and said he would “be willing to sit down beside Richard Keith and take a lie detector test.”

Unincorporated Land

The 3rd Supervisorial District, which Nestande represents, runs from Fullerton through El Toro and down to Mission Viejo, stretching east to the Riverside County line. Wealthy, white and strongly Republican, it contains much of the county’s unincorporated territory and has been a fertile ground for developers seeking open space to build new homes.

Nestande said his six years as a supervisor were devoted to “an attempt to establish a rational procedure to accommodate growth.”

He said he “had no idea” whom he would go to work for but expected to make a decision in the next week to 10 days.

“Over the past 15 years, people have said, ‘Bruce, when you get ready to quit, let us know,’ ” he said, “but I have not received anything firm--I have not made anything firm at this point in time.”

A sharp dresser given to Rolex watches and Gucci loafers, Nestande said he planned to keep his post on the California Transportation Commission and added: “I do not want to become a lobbyist.”

Nestande spent three years on Reagan’s gubernatorial staff and six years in the state Assembly before unseating Supervisor Miller in 1980. Miller, a former prisoner of war in North Vietnam, was appointed by Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. to fill the seat vacated when Supervisor Ralph A. Diedrich was convicted of bribery.

An aggressive, high-profile politician who insisted that reporters quote him and not his aides, Nestande was sometimes criticized by colleagues for not keeping them informed of matters they felt were also their concern.

Articulates ‘Well’

Supervisor Thomas F. Riley said that Nestande usually “articulated his position extremely well.”

But when challenged in public, “at times he came out pretty tough on people,” Riley said. “Whether that’s a lack of appreciation or tolerance--and whether he recognizes that--I don’t know. He was pretty much an individual type of person, as far as our office was concerned. There was more discussion with some of the other (supervisors’) offices (than with Nestande’s).”

Supervisor Roger R. Stanton, who as vice chairman will take over as board chairman, said that Nestande “has a great deal of ability, a very unique style and is a man that can get things done.”

Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder told Nestande that, “although these rumors have been rampant over many days, your announcement sure is final. . . . You will be a loss to this county.”

The chairmanship of the board rotates among the supervisors, and Nestande assumed the largely honorary position Jan. 5, succeeding Ralph B. Clark, who did not seek reelection after 16 years as a supervisor.

Clark said he was not running because of his age, his health and “the W. Patrick Moriarty matter.” Two Moriarty associates had said that Clark was one of a number of politicians who had been supplied with prostitutes, a contention Clark has always denied.

Nestande’s resignation came less than three months after Secretary of State March Fong Eu, considered one of the state’s most unbeatable elected officials, trounced Nestande in the November election. Eu got 69% of the vote to 26% for Nestande.

Ran Static Campaign

Nestande, who originally announced his intention to run for lieutenant governor last year, raised little money and did little campaigning against Eu.

He was faced with negative publicity on several fronts, including an allegation that Nestande asked Moriarty in 1982 to try to help get a loan for a Newport Beach real estate investor for a controversial project awaiting final approval by the Board of Supervisors.

Nestande denied discussing the loan or the project with Moriarty but admitted taking the unusual step of writing letters to a bank that helped the developer get the loan.

Moriarty last May began serving a seven-year prison term for making illegal campaign contributions, paying kickbacks to a banker and bribing public officials.

In 1983, Nestande returned $18,000 in campaign contributions from Moriarty after he said he learned that the money had been “laundered” by Moriarty through several friends and business associates.

Kevin Brett, Gov. Deukmejian’s deputy press secretary, said the governor would appoint a successor to Nestande “as soon as possible, consistent with the time that’s needed to make a quality appointment.”

Brett said there is no timetable or procedure specified for making such an appointment, but the governor will accept applications from residents of the district and will “seek input from individuals in the community as to who would be the best candidates for an appointment.”

Since taking office in 1983, Deukmejian has appointed 14 county supervisors and has three other openings to fill, in Kern, Merced and San Joaquin counties.

Times staff writers Jeffrey A. Perlman and Daniel M. Weintraub contributed to this report.

Profiles of Nestande, possible successors. Part II, Page 1.