Ex-Supervisor Roth Paved Way for His Own Downfall

Orange County Supervisor Don R. Roth was quick to criticize when the news broke in August, 1990, that one of his political appointees may have broken state law by accepting too many golf outings and lunches from a local developer.

The stocky, silver-haired official said at the time that he was “completely shocked” by the allegations against his appointee. “I’ve been well aware of the (gift-taking) limit, personally. I follow it. Everybody should.”

Yet that very week, the cash-strapped Roth accepted what he called a “favor”--16 months’ housing in a mobile home park, allegedly rent-free, from a family that later relied on Roth’s vote on a $5-million condominium project.

That favor would set off an investigation into a string of influence-peddling allegations that cost Roth his job. The embattled elder statesman of Anaheim politics announced his resignation under fire last week, saying that the investigation had eroded his ability to serve the county.

His last day in office Monday was marked by a stern edict to his staff members from the chairman of the county board, Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, who will oversee them: “The only direction we’ve gotten from her is no more gifts from anybody--even if it’s legal,” said Roth chief of staff, Steve Malone.

The two 1990 episodes offer a stark contrast between Roth’s public profile and his private persona. On the one hand, the ex-Navy aviator has built a reputation as a tough-talking, law-and-order legislator who has railed against government largess and abuse. On the other hand, a picture has emerged in recent months of a well-connected politician who critics say flouted ethics laws aimed at ensuring a measure of integrity in local government.

Roth denies any criminal wrongdoing. His lawyer has said he committed nothing more than “technical, inadvertent violations” of state laws that restrict the gifts politicians can receive and the votes they can cast on behalf of the gift-givers.

But in an age of ever-tightening regulations over government ethics, critics and supporters suggest that the 71-year-old supervisor may have gotten caught living by an outdated concept of the accepted relationship between politician and constituent.

“A ‘50s-style politician,” some associates call him privately.

“He talks about following the rules,” said Shirley L. Grindle, a prominent Orange County activist who has clashed repeatedly with Roth over campaign-reform issues. “But he’s just an arrogant guy who doesn’t think the rules apply to him. . . . One of his reasons for being in politics is to achieve the freebies available if you want to use your political pressure.”

A former realtor and the son of a Republican precinct captain in Chicago, Roth became active in politics and civic affairs in Anaheim in the 1960s. As his ties with the local business community grew, so did his political stature. By 1982, he was mayor of Anaheim and in 1986 he won a tough race for county supervisor.

“He felt very, very proud to get elected to that job,” said Jackie Roth, the supervisor’s ex-wife and now a potential witness against him. “He had always commented on how his old man wouldn’t trust him with the car, and here he was supervisor over all these people.”

Roth was paid well--an annual salary of $83,000, even after the supervisors were forced to rescind pay raises for themselves in 1991 because of a public backlash. The county gave him use of his own car, a Lincoln Continental, in recent years. He had a personal staff of at least seven people.

Along with the power to help oversee a county budget of $3.6 billion and wield influence over such crucial issues as the siting of a new jail came gifts from constituents that later would hasten Roth’s departure from a job he described as “the greatest honor of my life.”

Roth has said there was nothing wrong with a Los Angeles parking company executive taking the supervisor and his staff out for a $520 lunch at an expensive French restaurant in 1991--just a few days before Roth voted to give the company a $100,000 contract--because the supervisor had only a bowl of soup.

Orange County prosecutors have taken a different view, asserting in a recent court filing that Roth is suspected of fraud, theft, money-laundering, perjury and obstruction of justice in his political dealings.

Investigators are looking at potentially dozens of votes that Roth cast in favor of projects brought before the county by business people who had given him a multitude of items--ranging from 2% stock in a fledgling sunscreen company to an enlarged living room and a newly landscaped front yard.

Included was an expensive Baccarat crystal vase; lodging in Hawaii, Santa Catalina Island and Palm Springs; tickets to Rams and Angels games; frequent lunches at Orange County’s fanciest restaurants, and airline upgrades to first-class seats en route to Europe and Hawaii.

Roth has accepted these and many other items from business people. Some things he has reported to the state in gift-disclosure statements, but others, interviews show, he has not.

Orange County Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi last week emphasized that Roth’s resignation will not end the criminal investigation, saying that Roth could still face jail time if convicted.

Apart from the legal issues in the case, Roth’s political downfall may have come because of his “blurring” of the line separating personal friends from business associates who have a vested interest in county government, said one Roth associate and supporter who asked not to be identified.

“This wasn’t a situation where someone walked up with a brown bag of money and put it down on the table for Don--that allegation has never been made,” the official said.

Roth’s ex-wife, Jackie, remembers helping him campaign in the district that surrounds Anaheim when Roth ran for supervisor.

After a bitter divorce and a few unkind words about her from Roth’s lawyer, Jackie Roth agreed last year to cooperate in the case against her ex-husband, offering some potentially damning allegations to the district attorney.

“He wanted to go up as high as he could, and I helped him get there,” she said. “The guy had the potential, but it took something to put it together. . . . It’s sort of sad to see it all end like this.”