COUNTY ELECTIONS : SUPERVISORS : Wieder Building Lead, Just as She Expected

Orange County Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder maintained an early lead over challenger Joy L. Neugebauer early today in her bid for a fourth consecutive term in office, according to partial ballot results.

Wieder, who said she spent Tuesday afternoon walking along the oceanfront, enjoying the beach and “indulging” herself after voting, took the lead early in the evening Tuesday and built on it as the precincts began reporting in shortly before midnight.

She said her lead in the election “was something I expected.”

“I have credibility with the voters,” said Wieder, who spent part of the evening at the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel with supporters.

“I believe the voters have a great deal of confidence in me. . . . I am a representative, not a politician,” she added.

Despite Wieder’s lead, Neugebauer said she “ran the race to win” and declined to concede defeat shortly after midnight.

“There’s a lot of votes to come in yet and I’m still optimistic,” Neugebauer said.

Wieder was forced into a runoff for her fourth term representing the 2nd District when she finished with 47% of the vote in June, far ahead of Neugebauer, who had 20%, and three other challengers.

The supervisor’s job carries an annual salary of $82,055. It is a four-year term.

Wieder hired a new political consultant for the campaign and pumped out issue-oriented mail pieces targeted at different voting groups within the district, focusing on her achievements during the past 12 years as the first and only woman on the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

Early on, it was clear that Wieder would surpass the challenger in raising money. According to the most recent campaign disclosure statements, Wieder had raised more than 10 times as much money as Neugebauer, amassing a war chest of $259,952 to the challenger’s $25,055.

By contrast, Neugebauer borrowed on her homespun, low-key political style that has made her a fixture on the Westminster City Council, where she has served for 18 years.

In the primary, Neugebauer raised only $12,000 while Wieder spent more than $80,000. Neugebauer said she knew that it would be an uphill climb, but low-budget campaigns have been her trademark and she said being outspent did not scare her because she “has always” relied on volunteers to get the word of her campaign to the voters.

Tuesday night Neugebauer said there was no problem with her campaign’s fund-raising efforts because she wanted “a low-budget campaign.”

A few days before the election, Neugebauer said she “was optimistic,” and that she did “not intend to win this election on developer dollars. I will win it on my qualifications and grass-roots support.”

The election was in sharp contrast to Wieder campaigns of years past, where personally embarrassing information was disclosed, such as in 1988 when her opponent revealed that the supervisor had claimed a college degree from Wayne State University that she never earned.

Neugebauer did use the college-degree disclosure in campaign speeches as part of her political strategy to list “Harriett’s negatives,” including the fact that Wieder had missed more meetings and abstained from more votes than any of her board colleagues.

Times staff writer George Frank contributed to this article.