Wieder Raising Eyebrows, Ire as O.C. Board Chairman : Politics: Colleagues are taken aback by her vocal stand on ethics reform, public scolding of governor.

She butted heads in surprisingly public fashion last week with colleagues over the county’s budget crisis. She fired her longtime appointee to the Planning Commission and replaced him with a political novice.

She is spearheading an ethics reform package that has insiders screaming. She even took the governor to task at a recent dinner--winning her the title of “party crasher” from some other guests.

In a county where politics is often predictable, Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder is the wild card--a woman who broke into the “old boys’ club” of the county board, a Republican who backed Democratic candidate Bill Clinton, a politician who now wants to reject the freebies that routinely come her way.

Yet even for Wieder, the past few weeks of settling into her new role as chairman have provided a study in leadership as a contact sport. Increasingly, the former Huntington Beach councilwoman and 15-year supervisor now finds herself at odds with colleagues who pride themselves on a publicly united front.

“All of us do things differently,” said Supervisor Thomas F. Riley. “She’s taken a very aggressive leadership style--I’ll use good words--in how she runs (the board). We all have different approaches, but I think her aggressive way has been a challenge for some of us.”

Wieder, a longtime aide to former Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty who began her third stint as board chairman in mid-January, said simply: “I call it as it is. Nobody can say I’m not outspoken. That’s me.”

Last week, for instance, the 72-year-old Wieder went head to head in unusually public fashion with fellow Supervisor Roger R. Stanton over a plan to cut county administrative costs, accusing him of “grandstanding.”

The only county supervisor to criticize then-colleague Don R. Roth last spring over his acceptance of gifts from local business people, Wieder is also leading an effort to develop a county gift ban and toughened ethics measures that could drastically change the way politics is conducted in the county.

She has pressed the ethics issue with particular vehemence in the wake of the March 1 resignation of Roth, who is under criminal investigation over allegations that he accepted unreported gifts from people with business before the board.

Lobbyists and business people who appear regularly before the county board have complained privately that the gift ban and related ethics measures are an unnecessary, knee-jerk reaction to the Roth scandal. But the supervisors appear intent on adopting the reforms nonetheless.

“There’s a lot of concern out there. With change comes anxiety,” said one county lobbyist. “Harriett’s looking for an audience and she sees an issue like this that appeals to people.”

Wieder has made clear since taking over the chairmanship in January that she is pushing an agenda for change--one that centers on what she sees as the need for more open government, with greater public debate and less behind-the-scenes dealing.

The very day that Roth resigned earlier this month, Wieder ordered his staff members to stop accepting all lunches and gifts from constituents. Giving voice to a sentiment rarely heard in the Hall of Administration, Wieder said then that “nobody would even buy them a cup of coffee” were it not for aides’ access to power.

Wieder also raised eyebrows among colleagues by dismissing her planning commissioner, then replacing him with a political unknown whom Wieder has publicly identified as her choice for 2nd District supervisor after Wieder retires next year.

The selection of Huntington Beach businesswoman Haydee Tillotson for the influential planning post was widely seen as an attempt by Wieder to position her longtime friend for a successful run for supervisor next year.

Wieder acknowledges that she wants Tillotson to succeed her--despite Tillotson’s lack of political experience. And she took the unusual step of formally introducing Tillotson at a board meeting earlier this month and allowing her to address the gathering.

“That’s without precedent. I’ve never done that, and I’ve never seen it done,” said Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez.

Stanton said he doesn’t like the idea of Wieder effectively anointing a possible successor from her seat as board chairman. “I really have a negative feeling of trying to perpetuate a royal family lineage in politics--whether it be for a relative or a friend,” the supervisor said.

Wieder’s latest run-in came March 16 when Gov. Pete Wilson was the featured speaker at a dinner for more than 200 business and local government leaders held at the Times Orange County Edition facilities in Costa Mesa to mark the edition’s 25th anniversary.

The evening was winding down to a quiet close as Wilson fielded a few questions from local officials. Then Wieder demanded to know why local government was receiving so little money from Sacramento.

She and Wilson exchanged pointed arguments for a few moments, as some listeners squirmed silently in their seats. Finally, Wilson suggested they might best discuss the issue later--in private.

Wieder says she and Wilson are friends and that she merely wanted to use the dinner to highlight the financial bind of local governments, which have been forced to cut services and staff in large part because of shrinking state funds.

But some officials viewed the confrontation as an embarrassment. “There was indication at the table where I was sitting that her remarks were inappropriate at that time and in that place,” Stanton said.

Dan Schnur, a spokesman for Gov. Wilson, said that Wieder’s question gave Wilson the opportunity to explain his budget plan. “Was it probably the most pointed question of the evening? Yes. But did that make it inappropriate? Not at all,” Schnur said.

Even in less public settings, Wieder has recently proven combative.

When she was upset with the format of a recent forum for county supervisors, she took the organizers to task. And when she didn’t like a comment in The Times last week from Roth attorney Dana W. Reed about the upcoming political fight for Wieder’s seat, she quickly--and forcefully--suggested that Reed write the newspaper a letter to clarify his thoughts. He did.

Rarely one to shy away from controversy since she first joined the Board of Supervisors in 1978, Wieder insists that she is displaying the same aggressive style of leadership that she has employed for years in pushing new measures on health care, social services and other subjects. Nothing has changed during her third stint as chairman of the board since 1984, Wieder says.

Wieder said she did not hear many people question Stanton’s combative leadership style last year, and she suggested that the difference may be that she is the only woman who has ever served on the county board.

“Roger last year was like a Hitler--he wanted to run the place like a county administrative officer, and (staff members) were scared to death of him,” she said. “I guess being aggressive means being a bitch if you’re a woman. If you’re a man, you’re just aggressive.”

Responding to Wieder’s reference to his own leadership style, Stanton said: “If in fact she said that, I feel badly. She should work to regain control over her emotions. I feel sad and I am deeply offended. It’s a shocker.”

Some colleagues and political observers say that the recent chain of events suggests that Wieder has sought a higher public profile than in years past, seeming to court controversy at times because of her lame-duck status on the board. She will retire next year.

“I always felt that Harriett has spoken her mind,” said Huntington Beach Councilman Jim Silva, who has already formed a campaign committee to run for Wieder’s seat. “But now, she probably looks at this as her last term and feels like she’s got to go out and expound on these things.”

Stanton echoed Silva’s remarks, saying that “when somebody is nearing the end of a career, I think the motivation is of wanting to be at the forefront, at the cutting edge of issues.”

While she has decided against seeking another term on the board, Wieder has made no secret of her interest in a possible appointment in the Clinton Administration in the formulation of health care policy or other areas of interest to her. And she has not ruled out a run for a state or congressional seat.

Wieder was considered the clear front-runner for an Orange County seat in the House in 1988 until it was disclosed that she had lied in court and on political resumes about having earned a bachelor’s degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. She lost the seat to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach).

She may have a tough time garnering future support from conservative Republicans--particularly after she broke with the party last year to support Clinton for President and also backed former Superior Court Judge Judith M. Ryan in her unsuccessful primary challenge of Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove).

“Let’s put it this way,” Dornan said, “Harriett is a lot of fun at a party. But she’s not much fun for her party. I never thought of her as being consistent on anything. That’s always uncomfortable in politics.”

Beyond clashes on specific policy issues, Wieder has been at odds over her very status as chairman of the board. (Despite her strong views on promoting women’s causes, Wieder insists she be referred to as chairman, saying the title is more convenient.)

Stanton clashed with Wieder last year over what she and other county officials described as an attempt by Stanton to hold onto the board chairmanship for an extra year, despite the board’s set rotation. Stanton says there never was such a plan.

Traditionalists see the chairman’s role as a largely honorific position, serving as the public spokesman for the board and leading it in matters of protocol at meetings.

But Stanton and Riley said Wieder seems to take a different view.

“You’ll hear her use the term chairman a lot,” Riley said. “Generally, all five members are equal. . . . But Harriett I think has certainly been exercising the chairmanship badge differently than in the past.”