Ex-HUD Official Denies Personal Ties With Lyon

Shirley M. Wiseman, a former top HUD official who was accused by federal investigators of showing “favoritism” to the William Lyon Co. of Newport Beach in a 1985 Orange County land deal, denied in a written statement Monday that she has a personal friendship with Lyon.

The complaint about Wiseman surfaced last week in news reports of an 1985 investigation by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that Lyon’s company got preferential treatment when HUD sold the firm 827 acres to develop Robinson Ranch in south county.

Two Southern California developers who bid unsuccessfully on the property said in the report that they believed that Lyon was favored because of his personal relationship with Wiseman, his political contributions and his influence in the Republican Party.

Both developers also said they believed that Wiseman wanted Lyon’s help in gaining a position at the home builders association when she left HUD. Wiseman was elected in 1986, one year after the sale to Lyon.

Lyon and officials from his company have not commented on the federal report since it became public last week. Officials from the company again declined to comment Monday.

However, Wiseman, in response to written questions from The Times, said she does not believe that Lyon ever helped in her successful campaign for the presidency of the National Assn. of Home Builders.

“We are not personal friends,” wrote Wiseman, former deputy assistant secretary for housing at HUD. “To my knowledge, William Lyon never campaigned for me for my election” to head the home builders association.

Wiseman initially refused to comment, then agreed, through an intermediary at the home builders association in Washington to respond to written questions. The Times submitted more than 30 questions late last week, but Wiseman’s half-page of typewritten comments ignored most of them.

Wiseman’s statement does not respond to the allegations of favoritism, and she declined to answer any questions relating to the inspector general’s report. “I have neither seen the report nor been contacted at anytime by an investigator of the inspector general’s office,” she wrote.

And all through the report, she referred to the Orange County developer as “Lyons.”

“I am acquainted with William Lyons through two successful HUD projects. I had never discussed Robinson Ranch with Mr. Lyons prior to any bidding process. I have never had lunch with Mr. Lyons. We are not personal friends.”

Wiseman also said the association’s records indicate that Lyon has not attended a board of directors meeting since 1983.

“All of the elected officials of NAHB are voluntary and are non-salaried positions,” Wiseman noted. “Officers use their own time and are not compensated in any way.”

The 21-page HUD report, signed by HUD’s inspector general in San Francisco, criticized the internal HUD committee that recommended the sale to Lyon despite a warning from the agency’s general counsel “that the William Lyon company’s all-cash bid was not the lowest.”

The report, which was issued several months after the 1985 transaction, concluded: “In our opinion, there appears to have been favoritism by some selecting HUD officials to make the award to the William Lyon Co.”

Wiseman testified recently to a House of Representatives subcommittee that is investigating the developing scandal at HUD. The subcommittee has focused on influence peddling and questionable or shoddy projects that department officials have blamed for more than $1 billion in losses to the government.

Wiseman was praised by Democratic members of the committee for testifying that she refused orders from then HUD Secretary Samuel Pierce, who allegedly wanted her to approve a North Carolina project being proposed by an influential Republican developer.

Pierce is scheduled to testify to the committee on Sept. 15, in part to respond to Wiseman’s charge.