Wieder Would Have Fired Branch : Government: Recorder, who is elected, faces accusations of sex abuse and harassment in his office. ‘Not a team player,’ board chairman says.

SANTA ANA — Orange County Recorder Lee A. Branch, the subject of sexual harassment and abuse allegations, would have been dismissed long ago because of past management problems in the office if the decision on his tenure had rested with Orange County government administrators, officials said.

“We would have fired him,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Harriett M. Wieder said. “He was not a team player. We knew that there were unhappy campers over there. But it’s his shop. We don’t have control.”

County Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider said the Branch case embodies a frustration in county government, which controls the budgets of department heads who are independently elected by the people.

Branch “would have been out the door years ago,” Schneider told The Times.

Branch could not be reached for comment Friday. Earlier this week, officials had asked the recorder to extend a leave from office that began Oct. 29 until the sexual harassment and abuse investigation is completed.

The investigation is the latest controversy to dog Branch, whose obscure office is charged with filing thousands of documents each day, most dealing with real estate transactions.

Past audits and studies of Branch’s operation in the mid-1980s were highly critical of the recorder’s management practices, citing such things as rudeness to customers to a high rate of record-keeping errors.

Wieder said Branch’s fate now rests with Orange County voters unless there is new legislation that could possibly eliminate the obscure elective office and give management authority to the board. She said she would support such a move.

Meanwhile, Assistant Recorder Ella Murphy confirmed Friday that she is to appear before the Orange County Grand Jury on Tuesday for questioning about office operations.

The jurors have asked for an explanation of the workings of a $5-million office trust fund set aside for modernization projects. Murphy said she did not know whether the grand jury had opened a full-scale investigation of the office.

Branch was first elected to his job in 1978 and, despite the poor performance evaluations by the Board of Supervisors, has never been seriously challenged at the polls.

Wieder said this week that the board has done “everything it could do” by denying Branch a pay raise in 1988 as a result of those reports.

The comments from Wieder and Schneider are perhaps the strongest public rebukes of Branch since the recorder took a leave from office.

The paid leave was prompted by an investigation into employee complaints that Branch showed favoritism to office documents manager Nancy L. Smith and made lewd comments to an employee. Branch has since acknowledged a personal relationship with Smith, who is on an indefinite leave from the office pending the outcome of the probe.

County affirmative action office investigators have also questioned employees about incidents of abuse against employees involving Branch and Smith. Both have denied all allegations. Branch has said the allegations are politically motivated. Earlier this week, sources said, Branch was privately urged by county officials to resign in light of preliminary findings of a recent review of office operations.

The evaluation was done while Branch was on leave and reportedly found serious management problems and that employees had little regard for Branch’s leadership.

Since that time, Wieder has joined in the call for the recorder’s resignation.

“My question is: Is the public being served here?” Wieder said. “I do not know what it will take to get him to leave. He’s been there so long. The only thing we can do right now is seek his cooperation.”