Resignation of Nestande Could Signal a Shift in the Board’s Role

The resignation of Bruce Nestande--an assertive, high-profile politician--leaves a vacuum on the Orange County Board of Supervisors, and Nestande’s colleagues are divided on how that vacuum will be filled and how the board’s operation will be affected.

Supervisor Harriett Wieder says she sees an expanded leadership role for the other supervisors, especially herself and Supervisor Roger Stanton.

“I think there’s an opportunity here for leadership, for all of us,” Wieder said after Nestande, 48, announced he was resigning effective Tuesday to pursue opportunities in the private sector.

Stanton’s View

But Stanton disagrees. He says he believes any changes on the board are likely to be “more a matter of style” than of substance.

“I don’t think the board looks toward a spokesman,” he said. “I don’t think that’s something that the board would easily accept.”

In recent years, the vast majority of items considered by the supervisors at their twice-weekly meetings have sailed through on unanimous 5-0 votes. Most are not even considered or discussed individually at the meetings, but are passed as part of packages of resolutions recognizing civic leaders, awards of contracts to repair sidewalks and acceptances of state funds for various programs.

But in past years, there have been times when the board was less collegial and more frequently divided. With Don R. Roth replacing Ralph B. Clark, who retired Jan. 5 after 16 years on the board, and Nestande on his way out, the stage is set for a reshuffling of recent roles and alignments.

Could Take Months

Much will depend on who is appointed by Gov. George Deukmejian to succeed Nestande, a process that could take several months, the supervisors agree. Then the new supervisor will have to spend some time learning what the issues are and how his or her colleagues operate.

But that might not be the case if Nestande’s former aide, Ron Rogers, is appointed by the governor. Rogers, a political consultant in El Toro, worked for Nestande for 11 years and is the outgoing supervisor’s choice as his successor.

“He has indicated to me that he will tell the governor that I would be a capable replacement,” Rogers said.

In recent years, Stanton, Wieder, Nestande, Clark and Supervisor Thomas F. Riley have concentrated first on issues within their own districts while staking claims to various countywide programs and areas of interest.

Stanton has taken the lead on the county’s housing programs and medical care for the poor. Wieder has moved to the forefront on disposal of toxic wastes and air quality. Clark specialized in the Orange County Transit District. Their districts have relatively small amounts of unincorporated territory, so the people who elected them were governed in most cases by mayors and city councils.

However, Riley’s 5th District and the 3rd District, which Nestande has represented, take in large chunks of unincorporated territory. The supervisors representing those districts, therefore, tend to be more occupied with local issues. Still, Riley has made the homeless and county parks a special concern, and Nestande has zeroed in on transportation issues.

When unanimity was less in evidence on the board, the lineup was often Nestande and Stanton on one side, Riley and Clark on the other, and Wieder as the swing vote.

‘A Fulcrum Role’

“Up to now I’ve played a role as a fulcrum,” Wieder said. “I’ve been the only female on the board, not the oldest or the youngest, not the longest there or the newest to come. It’s been a fulcrum role, and very often I’ve had the opportunity to provide the swing vote.”

Besides giving other supervisors the chance to vie for leadership now that they are out from under Nestande’s shadow, the resignation may give more power to County Administrative Officer Larry Parrish, Wieder says.

“I’ll encourage that,” she said, urging Parrish to consider changes and “recommending them to us in maybe a stronger method of operation, sharing ideas.” She did not specify what areas she has in mind.

When the supervisors hired Parrish nearly two years ago, they said they wanted a strong leader who could function as a corporate-style chief operating officer. But they have continued to guard their own powers jealously and to be sure they had the final word on issues large and small.

Leadership Issue

Parrish said that “to the extent that people (working for the county) know how this county operates, Bruce is going to leave a real hole in the line. . . . There are a lot of leadership issues for the county as well as 3rd District issues like jail sites and transportation. I think Bruce is much better as a leader than particularly as the press has perceived him.”

Aides to the supervisors, speaking anonymously, say that when an issue was up for grabs, Nestande would leap for it and move from office to office to seek support.

They say he was especially active in moving the supervisors toward picking a non-urban site for a badly needed new jail that can hold 5,000 or more inmates, a process that has proceeded in fits and starts for years but now seems headed for resolution.

Greg Sanders, a former Clark aide, says Nestande was helpful in lobbying in Washington for legislation authorizing a $1.09-billion project to control flooding on the Santa Ana River.

Administration Contacts

Nestande had contacts in the Reagan Administration from his days on then-Gov. Ronald Reagan’s staff in Sacramento, as well as contacts in the state capital from his six years as an assemblyman there.

Stanton, whom Clark called the most intelligent supervisor he had seen in his 16 years on the board and who now moves up from board vice chairman to chairman, says he sees no radical changes in store for the supervisors.

He, Wieder, Riley and Roth have styles that “are distinctly different,” Stanton said. While “the patterns of approach to issues vary,” he said, the substance of the board’s actions probably will not.