Many in O.C. Divided Over Wood’s Hiring of Immigrant : Law: Some wonder if female candidates for prestigious public positions such as Kimba Wood are being unfairly tested.

Federal Judge Kimba Wood, who withdrew herself from consideration for attorney general Friday, saying her baby-sitter had been an illegal immigrant, elicited both sympathy and sharp criticism from Orange County officials and community leaders.

Many who opposed filling a top national job with someone who had broken federal immigration laws said they nonetheless believed Wood’s predicament, coming two weeks after nominee Zoe Baird stepped aside for the same reason, showed that hiring illegal immigrants has become increasingly commonplace in America.

Moreover, some wondered if women candidates for prestigious public positions are being unfairly tested, since it is they, rather than men, who arrange for someone to do household work.

“No men have ever been asked who takes care of their kids,” said Judith Rosener, senior lecturer at UCI’s Graduate School of Management. “All of a sudden, this is a test for women.”

Westminster Police Chief James Cook agreed. “How can you blame the poor woman; she’s trying to work. I bet you everybody in that executive branch has some” illegal help.

San Clemente Councilman Scott Diehl compared the severity of criminality in hiring illegal immigrants to breaking the speed limit.

“It is not a major trespass in my opinion,” he said. “I don’t think anyone who has ever hired (an illegal immigrant) has done it as a criminal or with malicious intent.”

But Orange County’s state legislative delegation said the firestorm of protest over the two attorney general candidates was understandable because these women should be held to stricter accountability than average citizens.

“You don’t want to see someone in that spot (attorney general) who has a cavalier attitude toward illegal aliens,” said Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress). “It doesn’t sit well. Why have an immigration law at all if that’s your attitude toward it.”

Said Assemblyman Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove): “The attorney general is charged with enforcing the law. The job is not to decide what should or should not be the laws, but to enforce them.”

Santa Ana Police Chief Paul M. Walters agreed that “the issue isn’t really domestic help . . . but just making sure they are here legally. I find it hard to support someone for attorney general who has trouble following the Immigration and Reform Act.”

Dana Point Mayor Karen Lloreda agreed that Wood was right to step aside. But, she added, “It is one of those sensitive issues that hits home, especially in the Southwest where at some time many of us have had undocumented workers working for us directly or through a contractor.

“We all should take responsibility for what we do ourselves. But the reality is we have many people here whom you can’t determine if they are here legally or not. Everyone knows you can get a (phony) green card on almost any corner.”

The burgeoning number of illegal immigrants, Lloreda said, is overwhelming schools, health facilities and law enforcement and must be checked.

“The most important issue is that the federal government has got to take responsibility for controlling the borders to the south,” she contended.

Some Orange County executives and their spouses admitted privately that they have also broken the law by hiring gardeners, house cleaners and baby-sitters without green cards. And some complained that the law makes criminals of the innocent.

“It is just ludicrous,” said one high profile executive. “She (Wood) was doing what everybody else does. I cannot imagine they have made an issue out of all this.”

Orange County Supervisor Thomas F. Riley compared the attention focused on Wood to the current investigation into allegations against Supervisor Don R. Roth of influence peddling and what he described as media attempts to “crucify” politicians over ethical issues.

“You wonder who’s going to take public office. . . . Are we asking (government officials) to be something that we don’t expect of everyone else?” he asked.

Riley said he has hired people through an agency to do cleaning and gardening at his Newport Beach home.

“When all this was coming out (about Zoe Baird) I was somewhat concerned about it,” he said. “But for the luck of the Irish we did it through an agency . . . so I’m not responsible for the taxes.” He said he can only assume that the agencies do not hire illegal immigrants.

Mike Meyer, a managing partner in the Newport Beach office of Kenneth Leventhal & Co., an accounting firm, said obeying the law is not impossible.

“I was a single parent for years, and always had a baby-sitter who was an American citizen,” Meyer said. “It cost more because I paid payroll taxes, but it’s certainly not impossible to find legal residents to work in your home.

“Even though it’s not unusual in this country to hire undocumented workers, I think that somebody who is going to be attorney general of the United States has to be above reproach in this area.”

Times staff writers Bill Billiter, James M. Gomez, Eric Lichtblau and Eric Young contributed to this story.