Steiner Named O.C. Supervisor : Government: Wilson chooses Orange city councilman to succeed Don R. Roth, who resigned amid allegations that he traded political favors for gifts.

Acting quickly to turn the page on a scandal that has dominated Orange County government for months, Gov. Pete Wilson on Wednesday named child advocate and Orange City Councilman William G. Steiner to succeed County Supervisor Don R. Roth, who resigned effective Monday amid allegations of influence peddling.

Steiner, executive director of the Orangewood Children’s Foundation, pledged to begin work immediately to establish a county “children’s agenda,” help solve mounting fiscal woes and put to rest the government ethics questions that had forced his predecessor to resign during an ongoing criminal investigation.

“Bill just dominated the field,” Wilson said after his announcement, delivered in person at a press conference Wednesday afternoon at the Lakeshore Towers. “He stood head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd.”

When he is sworn in March 15, Steiner will represent more than 482,000 people in North County’s 4th District, centered in Anaheim. He will become the odds-on favorite for election to the seat next year.

Roth, 71, a former Anaheim mayor, said in resigning that he could no longer serve the county because of a 10-month-old investigation by the district attorney into allegations, first raised in The Times, that he traded political favors for thousands of dollars in unreported gifts from local business people. Roth has denied criminal wrongdoing.

Steiner had been viewed for days as the clear favorite for the job. His appointment allowed Wilson to place on the board a moderate Republican who has solid credentials in public service and broad support among the local political establishment.

Political observers suggested that Wilson acted in near-record time, selecting a man with a clean record of public service to move the county forward from the past months of scandal involving Roth.

Wilson himself refused to discuss any impact the Roth case might have had on his decision. Asked about Roth and the ethics issue, the governor said that Steiner’s reputation for “integrity” was the “common thread” in all the reports he received.

“The man is a straight shooter,” Wilson said.

The choice drew widespread praise in government, business and social-service circles in Orange and throughout the county. But some officials have voiced concern over the apparent lack of women and minorities considered for the job.

Wilson refused to discuss his candidates. Among other names mentioned as possible contenders for the position were County Clerk Gary L. Granville, Anaheim Mayor Tom Daly and Ravinder Mehta, Wilson’s deputy appointments secretary.

Harriett M. Wieder, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, praised the selection of Steiner, saying it was “logical” because of his strong work in the county. But she added that the apparent scarcity of female candidates “says something for women--that they need to be more aggressive, to stand up and be counted and to seek power. And I think that’s true for minorities, too.”

Daly, a potential political opponent of Steiner, said he is “looking forward to working with Bill” but cautioned that officials in his city, the county’s second largest, will watch closely to make sure their interests are represented by an official who hails from Orange.

Noting that Anaheim has held “a claim on that seat for 20 years,” Daly said: “Let’s just say I want to make sure Anaheim as the largest city in the district . . . gets the strongest possible representation.” Asked if he believes that will happen with Steiner, he said, “I won’t know for a while.”

Steiner’s appointment leaves the county board with two members from Orange--Steiner and Gaddi H. Vasquez. Officials said it is the first time in memory that the same city has boasted two supervisors. The city is split between two supervisorial districts.

Amid general praise, some of the strongest concerns about Steiner to emerge in recent days center on his close ties through fund-raising work at Orangewood with local developers such as William Lyon and Kathryn Thompson.

But Steiner said Wednesday that he intends to avoid the problems that plagued Roth over his contacts with the business community, and wants to “set an example” of how government should be conducted in his district.

Steiner said that Roth’s office appears to have become “paralyzed” by the allegations against the supervisor in recent months and that he wants to “learn lessons from past mistakes and get going in the right direction.”

While Steiner said he has not made any decisions on which of Roth’s seven staff members he might keep on board, “my assumption is that there are going to be some new faces. I’m very anxious to get a fresh start.”

Wilson said it was the quickest appointment he could recall having made.

In contrast, the last time an Orange County supervisor resigned, six years ago, it took about four months for then-Gov. George Deukmejian to name his aide, Gaddi H. Vasquez, to replace Bruce Nestande.

Wilson said his “gut feeling” when he first heard of the vacancy was to appoint Steiner. Calls and letters from Orange County validated that impression. “We weren’t wanting for advice. . . . It was an easy decision.”

Born in Iowa, Steiner came to California with his family when his father took a job with a steel company during World War II. The family settled in Bell, in the Los Angeles area, and Steiner graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in criminology. He later earned a master’s degree in social work at USC.

Wilson cited Steiner’s work with the Orange Unified School District Board of Education and, since 1988, on the Orange City Council. But the one issue the governor returned to repeatedly was Steiner’s work with children.

As executive director of the Orangewood Children’s Foundation, Steiner helped raise $8 million from the private sector to establish the Orangewood Children’s Home for abused and neglected youngsters. He will leave that post.

Wilson called the home “a model for the world” in child care and said it can serve as “a metaphor for our approach to government.” If flaws are detected and addressed early in both government and child rearing, Wilson said, society can avoid the problems that later take their toll in human and financial costs.

Steiner was flanked at the news conference by his four colleagues on the Board of Supervisors--Wieder, Vasquez, Thomas F. Riley and Roger R. Stanton--as well as by family members.

Bob Bennyhoff, a community activist and publisher in Orange, said Steiner is a sound choice. “He’s always been pretty alert to the people’s wishes. He’s honest. He’s very interested in the social issues that need to be taken care of,” Bennyhoff said. “We could do a lot worse.”

And Brent Hunter, executive director of the Orange Chamber of Commerce, said: “We hate to lose him on the City Council. . . . The county is getting a tremendous person.”

But others were skeptical.

“There will be no difference whatsoever” in county government, said Tom Rogers, a San Juan Capistrano resident who has tangled with county supervisors frequently as a leader of the slow-growth movement.

“He has not exercised any independence with respect to any of the crucial issues of the environment, low-cost housing, things like that,” he said. “I don’t look for any change in the administration of county affairs with him on the board. If he was going to change things, he wouldn’t be appointed.”

Times correspondent Shelby Grad contributed to this report.

Profile: William G. Steiner

Age: 55

Residence: Orange

Party affiliation: Republican

Education: Bachelor’s degree in criminology from UC Berkeley. Master’s in social work from USC.

Occupation: Executive director, Orangewood Children’s Foundation, which operates a home for abused and neglected children in Orange.

Elected posts: Orange Unified School District trustee from 1983 until 1988. Appointed to the Orange City Council in 1988 to fill out a vacant term. Elected to the council in 1990. Currently mayor pro tem.

Family: Has three daughters and two sons, ages 17 to 29. He is divorced and lives with his 19-year-old son.

Source: Times reports