Wieder Says She Regrets University Degree Claim

It’s been a bad week for Orange County Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, whose standing as the Republican front-runner in the 42nd Congressional District has been threatened by a series of personal and political blows.

Under attack from one of her rivals in an increasingly bitter GOP primary contest, Wieder admitted Tuesday that she never graduated from college as some of her biographies have claimed during the past quarter-century.

Wieder blamed the error on an aide who included the degree in a biography 25 years ago, when she worked for former Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty.

‘Wishful Thinking’

“I never would have thought of it, but it looked good and it was wishful thinking,” Wieder said.

She said she was ashamed that she never was able to go to college because of family finances. For many years, Wieder said, she let the error pass. “And that was wrong,” she said.

In addition, another of Wieder’s Republican opponents filed a formal complaint Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission, charging that she illegally transferred $40,000 from her supervisorial campaign fund to her congressional campaign committee. Wieder denied the accusation.

Those developments followed on the heels of Wieder’s vote last week in favor of a Laguna Canyon development project that prompted a leader of Orange County’s influential slow-growth movement to threaten a recall campaign against her.

The flurry of activity changed the character of the race to replace retiring Rep. Daniel E. Lungren (R-Long Beach) in the sprawling district, which stretches from Torrance, around the Palos Verdes Peninsula, across a narrow strip of Long Beach and into northern Orange County.

Publicized in Orange County

The false claim that she received a degree in journalism from Wayne State University in Detroit drew heavy publicity in Orange County, which Wieder has been counting on to propel her past her Republican rivals. The district is so heavily Republican that the winner of the June 7 primary is expected to be sent to Congress next November.

Wieder’s front-runner status in the race was threatened by the disclosure by Republican rival Dana Rohrabacher that Wieder never received a college degree as she has claimed.

Rohrabacher said his campaign staff was doing a “routine check” of Wieder’s record when the falsification was found.

“Obviously, the voters will have to determine whether that affects her credibility,” Rohrabacher said.

Wieder said that when she was interviewed by Yorty’s press secretary in 1963, she mentioned that she met her husband, Irv, at Wayne State University in Detroit. She also told him that she had wanted to be a journalist and had worked on the high school paper, she said.

When the biography from the mayor’s office came out, it erroneously stated that she had earned a journalism degree at Wayne State.

‘Entrenched’ Mistake

“It was a mistake that was perpetrated and compounded and forgotten,” Wieder said. “The longer, longer you allow it, the more it becomes entrenched.”

Wieder said the degree was not included in her current campaign’s literature.

“I did not suggest it be used,” she said. “I did not want to perpetuate it any more.”

However, as recently as a month ago, an aide to Wieder at the Board of Supervisors gave a Times reporter information about Wieder that included the Wayne State degree. The aide, Rod Speer, said he had picked it up from an earlier biography.

Wieder said of the incident: “It was a mistake, and I don’t think I deserve to be destroyed by this. I’m running on my (public service) record.”

She said she had learned “what everybody would learn from this: You don’t try to be something you’re not or wish you were.”

Re-Examining Strategy

The disclosure prompted Wieder’s campaign aides to huddle late Wednesday to re-examine the campaign strategy, which has been based on Wieder drawing a substantial majority from about 45% of the district’s Republicans who live in Orange County.

However, Allan Hoffenblum, campaign consultant to Rohrabacher, said Wieder had been hurt by the negative publicity about the false college degree, although it is too early to tell how badly her campaign had been damaged.

“You just don’t lie to the voters and then say, ‘Gee, I’m sorry,’ ” Hoffenblum said.

Rohrabacher also accused Wieder, 67, of claiming at various times to be younger than she is. Wieder denied this.

“I don’t know what they’re talking about there,” she said. “I’ve never denied my age. I’ve some times left it off.”

She said it would be silly for her to falsify her age since it is so easily checked on her driver’s license.

“Besides which, every 67-year-old should look like me and have the energy I have,” Wieder said. “I’m not ashamed of it.”

Wieder’s campaign attorney, Dana Reed of Costa Mesa, denied the allegations that Wieder improperly loaned $40,000 from her supervisorial campaign committee to her congressional campaign last January, saying flatly that there were “no violations” of federal election laws.

Campaign Activities Challenged

The complaint from former Cal State Long Beach President Stephen Horn’s campaign chairman alleges that Wieder violated federal election laws by commingling corporate and individual contributions, then loaning the $40,000 to her congressional campaign.

Federal law prohibits corporate, labor union and bank contributions to candidates in federal elections. The law does allow individuals to donate up to $1,000 and political action committees to contribute as much as $5,000 per election.

In a letter to Federal Election Commission General Counsel Larry Noble, Horn campaign chairman Robert Graham questioned the “ethical, financial and accounting activities” of the Wieder campaign and asked the commission to investigate.

Horn campaign spokesman Fred Karger said the Wieder campaign could remove any doubt about the loan by having the congressional campaign repay the money to her supervisorial campaign.

Reed said the campaign’s accountant has followed the federal commission’s guidelines and excluded all corporate, union and bank contributions and those from individuals above the $1,000 federal limit.

“We certainly wanted to make sure it was done properly,” Reed said. “We did it exactly the way the FEC said to do it.”

Commission spokesman Fred Eiland confirmed Tuesday that the commission received correspondence from the Horn campaign but would not discuss it because of rules on confidentiality.

Eiland said that although the commission makes “every effort to expedite matters” before an election, its procedures make it unlikely that a final decision will be reached on the complaint before the June 7 primary.

Eiland said that generally a candidate can transfer funds from a state campaign committee to a federal campaign “as long as the money transferred is permissible.”

He said the commission has not dealt with a specific case of a candidate loaning money from a state committee to a federal campaign.