LOCAL ELECTIONS COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS : Wieder Faces Battle; Roth, Riley Coasting

Since she became the first woman elected to the Orange County Board of supervisors 12 years ago, Harriett M. Wieder has not had any difficulty getting reelected.

In 1982, she ran unopposed. Four years later, she faced a single challenger and won almost 77% of the vote.

This year, Wieder is still a heavy favorite, but she is facing a crowded field and will at least have a tougher time garnering a majority vote June 5. Encouraged by her disastrous congressional campaign in 1988, no fewer than four challengers--among them three women and three current or former local City Council members--have surfaced with hopes of unseating the three-term, 2nd District supervisor.

Wieder’s opponents are Joy L. Neugebauer, a longtime Westminster council member; Sonia (Sunny) Sonju, a low-cost housing developer and former Cypress council member; John D. Harper, a Huntington Beach businessman who served a term on the Fountain Valley City Council two decades ago, and Marie Alexis Antos, a Seal Beach activist.

The other two supervisors up for reelection, board Chairman Don R. Roth and 5th District Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, have just one opponent each. Roth faces Christian L. Basquette in the 4th District race, and Riley faces Peer A. Swan. However, neither Basquette nor Swan is waging any kind of serious campaign.

Wieder, who will turn 70 this year, said she welcomes the competition and is hardly surprised by it.

“I think my congressional race had an impact” in encouraging potential challengers, Wieder said. “On the plus side, this gives me a chance to get back in touch with the voters.”

Still the only woman ever to have served on the five-member board, Wieder said she is “flattered” that three of her challengers are women.

“I’ve been kind of a role model,” she said. “I have an enormous responsibility that I don’t take lightly.”

Among her colleagues and some of their staffs, Wieder is generally regarded as hard-working and devoted to her chosen issues. She is a strong advocate of water conservation and foe of aerial spraying of malathion, two topics that have captured much board attention in recent months.

But Wieder is not considered one of the board’s more powerful or persuasive members, and the other supervisors sometimes mock her debating style, rolling their eyes as she speaks or turning their backs to her.

It is an openly discourteous gesture, and one that has not escaped Wieder’s attention.

“Sure, I sense it,” she said in a recent interview. “It’s been no fun being the first woman in 100 years to be a supervisor.”

Roth, who has publicly tangled with Wieder in recent months, declined to elaborate on the reason for their differences but said he admired her despite them.

“We’ve had a lot of disagreements, but at times we pull together too,” he said. “It’s not because she’s a woman. It’s just that personalities sometimes clash.”

Wieder’s strongest opponent is probably Neugebauer, a business owner and widowed mother of seven who broke into local politics about the same time as Wieder.

Neugebauer ran unsuccessfully for the Republican Party’s nomination in the 39th Congressional District in 1974, but she has won five of six City Council races and has served three terms as mayor. She has won reelection while spending less money than her opponent, but in the supervisor’s race the gap will be enormous. Campaign finance reports filed last week reveal that Neugebauer has raised $12,132, while Wieder has amassed $106,922.

“I’ll raise just enough to pay for my campaign--one mailing, umpteen signs, maybe some newspaper ads,” Neugebauer said.

Neugebauer said she hopes to give the 2nd District constituents a better hearing than Wieder does.

“At the county level, there needs to be more of an effort to consider people priorities” when making a decision, she said. “Their evaluation should be taken into account.”

Neugebauer pointed to the car-pool lanes on Orange County freeways, malathion spraying and the naming of the airport terminal in honor of Supervisor Riley as issues on which the board and the public differ.

“There could have been more of an effort” to heed their concerns, she said, adding that her experience on the City Council puts her in a position to do that.

“I’ve served 18 years as an elected official, at the level closest to people,” Neugebauer said. “When Harriett ran for Congress, it indicated to me that she was ready to move on.”

Wieder would just as soon forget her campaign two years ago for the 42nd Congressional District seat vacated by Daniel E. Lungren.

Going into the race as the odds-on favorite, Wieder’s campaign was rocked by revelations that she had lied on her resume and under oath about her college education, claiming to have received a degree from Wayne State University in Michigan. She was also the subject of an unrelated recall effort by slow-growth advocates upset over her development stands.

She finished a distant second to Dana Rohrabacher, a former speech writer in the Reagan Administration.

Wieder said her own polling indicates that her admitted lie about the Wayne State degree would cost her about 3% of the vote, and she expects that her opponents in the supervisor’s race will try to use it as an issue.

“If anyone has mail, that will be done,” she said.

Wieder’s public embarrassment was eased somewhat when she received an honorary doctorate from Pepperdine University’s School of Business Administration earlier this year.

“That validates my 27 years of public service,” Wieder said.

Her opponents, however, are focusing more on the degree she never got than on the honorary doctorate.

“It’s sad we live in a time when you see so many public officials discredited,” Neugebauer said. “People here are more intelligent and expect more from their public officials.”

Said Sonju: “She’s lost the respect of the people. People trust you until you give them a reason not to . . . and she gave them a reason.”

And Harper, whose main reason in running is because he believes that Wieder’s stands on air quality are anti-business, said that Wieder claims “to listen to both sides, but she also told us she had a college education.”

Longtime Fountain Valley residents may recall Harper’s sole City Council term, from 1968 to 1972. He made headlines when he charged then-Mayor Robert D. Schwerdtfeger with a conflict of interest in a rezoning matter. Schwerdtfeger was ousted in a recall election, then later was convicted of making obscene and annoying phone calls to Harper and his wife.

Harper said he left the council “after cleaning things up,” moved to Seal Beach and then to Huntington Beach in 1984. A salesman to industrial companies, Harper said he is running because Wieder “should not be given a free ride that would legitimize some of the decisions she’s taking against industry.”

While Wieder tries to fend off four challengers, Roth and Riley have the luxury of facing phantom opposition. Riley’s opponent, Swan, a corporate financial officer, withdrew from the race, but it was too late to keep his name off the ballot.

Basquette, Roth’s opponent, is a Colombian-born resident of La Palma who said he recently changed his name from Jose Luis Nieto “for personal reasons.” He has told reporters he is 41, although his real age is 21, according to voter registration records.

“I’ve made it a policy not to comment on my age,” Basquette said.

Basquette said he is employed, but he declined to comment when asked what he does for a living.

Times staff writer Jim Newton contributed to this story.

2ND SUPERVISORIAL DISTRICT:

Joy L. Neugebauer

Home: Westminster

Age: 62

Occupation: Business owner/councilwoman

Background: Has owned Ace Tool Co. in Long Beach since 1955. Served on the Westminster City Council 18 years (1968-80 and 1984 to present), including two terms as mayor. Ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination in the 38th Congressional District in 1974. Is a member of the county Republican Party Central Committee.

Issues: Opposes car-pool lanes, reintroducing Measure M on the November ballot and malathion spraying. Believes a new county jail should be built somewhere within Orange County, possibly at the Seal Beach Naval Ammunitions Depot. Favors holding on to Rancho del Rio and building a narcotics-detection training facility there.

Harriett M. Wieder

Home: Huntington Beach

Age: 69

Occupation: County supervisor.

Background: Worked for Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty from 1963-73. Elected to the Huntington Beach City Council in 1974, then became first woman elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1978. Has served two terms as chairwoman of the board since then. Ran unsuccessfully for Republican nomination in 42nd Congressional District in 1988.

Issues: Supports reintroducing Measure M on the November ballot after a series of public hearings to solicit ideas for changing the transportation measure’s language. Supports additional car-pool lanes, more efficient mass transit and traffic management measures. Supports the goals and objectives of the Air Quality Management District, but believes that some of its goals, such as calling for the replacement of the combustion engine by electric vehicles within the next 20 years, are unrealistic.

Marie Alexis Antos

Home: Seal Beach

Age: 45

Occupation: Community activist

Background: Has lived in the district for 20 years and says she has been involved in local political issues for the past decade.

Issues: Opposes malathion spraying, supports increased recycling programs and favors a cut in supervisors’ salaries.

John D. Harper

Home: Huntington Beach

Age: 56

Occupation: Businessman/scientist/ marketing

Background: Served on Fountain Valley City Council from 1968-72.

Issues: Opposes AQMD’s plan to improve air quality; opposes car-pool lanes. Favors introduction of electric cars where possible, and favors privatizing as many public services as possible. Believes landfills are a waste and favors increased recycling and incineration of non-recyclable waste.

Sonia (Sunny) Sonju

Home: Sunset Beach

Age: 51

Occupation: Businesswoman

Background: Served on Cypress City Council from 1974-78, including a term as mayor. Ran unsuccessfully for 76th Assembly District in 1976 and 2nd District Supervisor in 1978. Is president of AFCOM and Sonju Development Inc., affordable-housing developers, mostly in Los Angeles County.

Issues: Wants to concentrate on transportation issues and believes car-pool lanes have some effectiveness.

4TH SUPERVISORIAL DISTRICT:

Don R. Roth

Home: Anaheim

Age: 68

Occupation: County supervisor

Background: A 20-year Navy veteran and real estate broker, Roth served on the Anaheim City Council from 1971-72 and from 1976-86. Was mayor from 1982 to 1986. Elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1986.

Issues: Opposes the planned Gypsum Canyon jail and has initiated a study of a proposed jail in the Riverside County desert. Is leading an effort to have a high-speed rail line built between Las Vegas and Anaheim.

Christian L. Basquette

Home: La Palma

Age: 21

Background: Declined to provide.

Issues: Believes supervisors are paid too much money. Favors increased funding for the Sheriff’s Department, more mass transit and fewer cars, and wants to devote more resources to the county’s trauma network.