Wieder, Riley Opponents Get OK to Circulate Recall Petitions

Petition language for recall drives against Orange County Supervisors Harriett M. Wieder and Thomas F. Riley has been approved by the registar of voters.

Recall proponents, many of them slow-growth activists angry over Wieder’s and Riley’s support of development agreements, now have until Dec. 13 to collect the signatures necessary to place the recalls on the ballot.

In the Wieder recall drive, the signatures of 20,651 voters, 10% of those registered in her district, are required. In the petition drive against Riley, the signatures of 26,223 voters registered in his district are needed.

In the unlikely event that the signatures are collected by Aug. 12, the recall issues could be placed on the November general election ballot, Registrar of Voters Donald F. Tanney said. If that deadline is missed, however, Tanney said, special elections would have to be called at a total cost of about $40,000.

If recall elections are scheduled, people seeking to replace Riley and Wieder will have a period in which to file candidacy papers.

Doug Langevin, a leader of the drive against Wieder, said Tanney had asked for two misspellings to be corrected before the petitions are circulated.

Langevin, a Huntington Beach businessman, said that once that is done, he will have 20,000 petition sheets printed and circulated by volunteers.

Tom Rogers, a leader of the drive against Riley, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The recall drives were announced in April the same day the Board of Supervisors, in a 3-2 vote, approved the Laguna Laurel development agreement between the county and the Irvine Co. for the project in Laguna Canyon.

Critics of Laguna Laurel wanted to keep new development out of Laguna Canyon.

Development agreements guarantee zoning and land-use plans for periods of as long as 20 years.

Riley had been the most vocal supporter of the project, which is in his district. Two supervisors, Gaddi H. Vasquez and Roger R. Stanton, voted against the agreement. Supervisor Don R. Roth joined Riley in supporting it and Wieder provided the swing vote.