Fiedler Appointed to Redevelopment Board : City Hall: The mayor’s naming of the former congresswoman marks her return to public office.

Mayor Richard Riordan on Friday appointed former Rep. Bobbi Fiedler of Northridge to the board of the Community Redevelopment Agency, installing an influential conservative at a time when City Hall officials are discussing major changes in the role of the much-criticized urban renewal agency.

The new duties marked Fiedler’s return to public office after she gave up her Valley-based congressional seat in 1986 in a losing bid for the Republican nomination for U. S. Senate.

Fiedler, 56, said she was “really delighted to have the opportunity to serve” but that she had not discussed with Riordan in any detail what role he wants her to play on the seven-member board of the powerful CRA.

“Obviously, when you receive an appointment, it’s to further (the mayor’s) personal policies,” she said. “He’s looking for strong leadership on that board. Usually, that portends some kind of change. Beyond that, I just don’t know.”

Fiedler, who supported Riordan’s campaign but did not work actively for him, said she wants to see the CRA spread more of its resources outside the downtown redevelopment zone. The agency spends tax money on projects designed to improve blighted inner-city areas.

“There are some areas in East L. A. and here in the Valley that need some attention,” she said.

Community activists have long criticized the CRA for spending too much money on downtown projects and too little in neighborhoods of East Los Angeles, South-Central and other economically troubled areas.

Riordan has said he wants to consolidate various city departments that handle economic development, saying current programs are fractured and ineffective. City Hall officials have discussed making the CRA the lead agency for such efforts, dramatically broadening its role.

Fiedler rose to public attention in the mid-1970s on the strength of her fiery opposition to mandatory school busing, winning a Valley seat on the Los Angeles Board of Education in 1977. She was elected to Congress in 1980, defeating 20-year incumbent James Corman, a liberal Democrat.

Fiedler left her House seat in 1986 to run for the GOP Senate nomination. But her candidacy was badly damaged after an opponent, then state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Chatsworth), claimed that her campaign offered him $100,000 to drop out of the race.

Fiedler was indicted on a felony violation of the state election code but a judge threw out the charge. Nonetheless, Fiedler placed a disappointing fourth in the GOP primary; Davis, also damaged by publicity surrounding the bribe charge, ran fifth.

After that campaign, Fiedler returned from Washington to the Valley, where she has engaged in a variety of political and business activities, including a stint as a consultant for New York real estate tycoon Donald Trump.

She has been active in several successful GOP campaigns in the Valley, including George Bush’s 1988 presidential bid, Pete Wilson’s 1990 gubernatorial campaign and the 1990 campaign of state Assemblywoman Paula L. Boland (R-Granada Hills).

Fiedler was hired by Trump in 1990 to give him political advice on dealing with the school board, which was then battling in court to buy a Mid-Wilshire hotel he owned, the Ambassador, for a new high school. The board eventually took over the hotel through eminent domain.

The same year, Fiedler also beat back a case of lymphoma, a systemic cancer.

She has been repeatedly mentioned as a potential candidate for various city and county elective offices since leaving Congress. But she said Friday she has “no intentions at this time” of running for office.