Wieder Discloses Just 2 ’89 Gifts, Worth $370 : Politics: Her supervisor colleagues list more than a dozen contributions each. An opponent in her reelection bid questions Wieder’s declarations.

Orange County Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder submitted public disclosure statements this week indicating that she received only two gifts worth $50 or more in 1989, in contrast with more than a dozen each for her four colleagues.

The discrepancy raised eyebrows among Wieder’s political opponents and some other observers, who noted that the supervisors receive an array of gifts, usually of modest value but often exceeding $50. In an interview late Wednesday, Wieder defended the disclosures on her state-required economic interest form and said her secretary is responsible for checking to make sure that all gifts with values greater than $50 are reported.

She added, however, that “maybe the better part of valor is to just do what (board Chairman) Don Roth and the others do and just report everything.”

Wieder’s disclosure statements show significant differences from those of her colleagues. Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, for instance, reported gifts from 30 sources, totaling thousands of dollars. Wieder’s gifts came to $370.

Other supervisors reported Christmas baskets from lobbyists and dinners with the Building Industry Assn.; Wieder’s statement was blank on those points.

Her entire statement consisted of four tickets to the Pageant of the Masters, courtesy of the mayor’s office in Laguna Beach, and 10 tickets to South Coast Repertory.

Wieder, a Huntington Beach resident running for reelection in her coastal supervisorial district, would not have to list gifts such as the BIA dinners if she did not attend. But BIA officials said she has attended.

“She’s attended them on a couple of occasions,” said Mike Lennon, the BIA’s director of community affairs. “She was a speaker one time last year. She came and spoke on water” conservation.

A recent BIA pamphlet advertising its monthly meeting for April notes that members must pay $30 to attend. Non-members are required to pay $40, so attending more than one meeting would probably mean an official would have to declare complimentary tickets.

The supervisor said she did not list the BIA dinners because she attended only the annual banquet and perhaps one other dinner during the year. The dinner at which she spoke, Wieder said, was not reported because she considered her presence there a county duty, not a gift.

“We would only be there because we’re performing a function,” she said. “We’re their guests.”

Wieder also did not list gifts from Frank Michelena, a lobbyist whose gifts, including lunches and a Christmas basket, showed up on the reports of Roth and Riley. Michelena declined to say whether he had given Wieder such gifts.

Wieder, however, said that while she did not know how many Christmas baskets she received, she did not believe that any were worth more than $50.

“The Christmas baskets have become less grandiose in recent years,” she said. “I suspect that’s because they know about the reporting requirements.”

Wieder added that she returns most of the gifts sent to her office and declines such perks as free tickets to Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm--although other supervisors reported having accepted a few of those.

One of Wieder’s opponents in the supervisorial District 2 contest, Westminster City Councilwoman Joy L. Neugebauer, said Wednesday that she considers Wieder’s disclosure statements questionable.

“I think it’s a matter that should be clarified between the supervisor and the agency that takes those statements,” Neugebauer said.

Roth declined to criticize his colleague’s reporting but said his office keeps track of all gifts and reports them, partly to avoid embarrassing predicaments.

“We try to report every damn thing that comes through the doors here,” Roth said. “It’s better to come out and be honest and report it all than to try to explain why you didn’t report it.”