‘86 Election Foe Opposes Recall of Riley : Brand Says Supervisor Has Wide Support Within His District

Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, the target of a recall effort, received support Wednesday from an old political foe.

Jon Brand, a former mayor of Laguna Beach who tried to unseat Riley in 1986 and lost by a wide margin, called a press conference at the county Hall of Administration in Santa Ana to say he opposes the recall drive and thinks that it will fail.

“I just don’t think a serious enough offense has been committed (to warrant a recall),” Brand said. “I think that in this case, a recall is inappropriate.”

He said Riley, who won 68% of the vote in the 5th Supervisorial District race in 1986 to Brand’s 25%, still enjoys widespread support in the district, particularly in such cities as Newport Beach and Costa Mesa.

“He won overwhelmingly in 1986, and he hasn’t changed,” Brand said. “I think his support is still strong.”

Brand, 54, is a professor of geography at Orange Coast College. He is also chairman of the Laguna Beach Open Space Commission and a former president of Laguna Greenbelt Inc., a south county environmentalist group.

In a letter to Riley last month after the recall drive was announced, Brand offered to make public his opposition to the recall, an offer Riley accepted.

Riley--who has been a supervisor for 14 years, longer than anyone on the board, and is board vice chairman--said Wednesday that he is grateful for Brand’s gesture.

Riley said he is still preparing a response to a notice of recall served on him last week at a supervisors meeting. The response must be filed with the county registrar of voters by 5 p.m. today.

The proponents of the recall drive are Tom Rogers, a south county resident who was a leader of the successful effort to get a slow-growth initiative on the county’s June 7 ballot, a group of Laguna Beach residents and the Laguna Canyon Conservancy, a group that opposes development in Laguna Canyon.

Accused of Favoritism

They accuse Riley of favoring developers in his votes as a supervisor. Specifically cited in the recall notice are:

- A series of development agreements approved by the board and supported by Riley.

- Riley’s support of clauses in the agreements that allegedly make the county liable for the legal defense of builders sued over the agreements.

- Riley’s vote for a measure prohibiting the county from defending itself from a lawsuit filed to keep the slow-growth initiative off the ballot.

The recall notice also accuses Riley of malfeasance and misfeasance, or wrongdoing in office, though Rogers has noted that no illegalities are being alleged.

In order to get the measure on the ballot, recall proponents must collect the signatures of 10% of the 5th District’s registered voters.

The recall drive was announced April 27 after the Board of Supervisors, in a 3-2 vote, approved the Laguna Laurel developer agreement between the county and the Irvine Co. It was vehemently opposed by the Laguna Canyon Conservancy and others because it protects Irvine Co. plans to build 3,200 homes and a shopping center in Laguna Canyon and advances the county’s plan to build the San Joaquin Hills Corridor toll highway through the canyon.

Joining Riley in supporting the agreement were Supervisors Don R. Roth and Harriett M. Wieder.

Brand said Wednesday that he also opposes the developer agreements and development in the canyon and would have voted against the Laguna Laurel agreement had he been a supervisor.

But, he said, it is unfair to blame Riley for “all these growth problems” in the county and to single him out for recall.