Friends: Councilman was colorful, outspoken

Nobody who served with Dave Wheeler on the Costa Mesa City Council got along with him, and former Mayor Donn Hall was probably his harshest critic of all.

Hall, who is now the chairman of the planning commission, recalls Wheeler as being stubborn, arrogant and undiplomatic on the dais, but when he was looking for a divorce lawyer for a friend a few days ago he tried to track Wheeler down because he remembered him being successful at what he did.

Wheeler, who died last weekend of lung and brain cancer, was an iconoclast in city politics and one of the most colorful, charismatic politicians to ever serve the city as an authority figure.

The liberal, anti-development activist sparred constantly with his fellow council members and often found himself alone on the issues. He was elected at age 29 in 1984 — the youngest councilman in city history — to serve alongside four older, more conservative members whose nerves he continually frayed.

“He was a pretty freewheeling, outspoken, young, rebellious individual. He kind of fashioned himself a bit of a revolutionary. He used to talk a lot about his philosophy in college of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll and that was a little different philosophical approach than Costa Mesa had been used to prior to his election,” said City Manager Allan Roeder, who was just starting out in the position as a young man himself when Wheeler was on the council.

An avid fisherman and outdoorsman, Wheeler moved toward the mountains after leaving Costa Mesa. The career lawyer died in his home in Moreno Valley at the age of 53.

Former Mayor Mary Hornbuckle described herself as his closest alley on the council. Both she and Wheeler campaigned on a platform of stopping the rapid development of Costa Mesa at the time, but beyond that the two disagreed on many other issues.

Hornbuckle said that Wheeler’s charisma and willingness to fly in the face of the status quo won him a seat on the council even in a climate where most of the city politicians were conservative Republicans.

“I think there were a lot of people in the community that liked to see him tweak the nose of the establishment. We all have a little rebel in us. He was not afraid to speak up and speak out and that’s attractive to some people too,” Hornbuckle said.

Of all the council members Wheeler worked with, Hall was the one he fought with the most.

The two were polar opposites: Wheeler a liberal Democrat and Hall a staunch, libertarian conservative. They fiercely fought over a big development proposed by the Segerstroms at the time that Wheeler looked at as a blemish on the community and Hall looked at as an added source of tax revenue.

“Donn and him didn’t see eye to eye at all. If one said black the other said white. Wheeler liked to intimidate people. That was a big thing for him. And he would love to take Donn on,” said former Mayor Arlene Schafer, who was also a frequent adversary of Wheeler.

To this day Hall still disagrees with the sum total of Wheeler’s philosophical beliefs. Wheeler was unique on the council, and Hall doubts there will ever be another councilman like him again in the city.

“One day I said to him, ‘I really respect you,’ and he kind of looked at me and said, ‘Why’s that?’ And I said, ‘Because I always know where you’re coming from: the opposite side as everyone else,’” Hall said.

Schafer called Wheeler a “maverick” who didn’t care what anyone else thought but would say his piece. The two had one similarity, though: They both loved to party.

“I’m the only one that would sit next to him,” Schafer said.

Wheeler’s activism was a big part of him as a college undergraduate at UCI, and he took it with him to USC where he earned his law degree.

Wheeler died just three months after marrying his wife, Terri. He is survived by Terri; his mother, Myrna Smith; sisters Teresa Terwilliger and Karla Swanberg; three daughters; and five grandchildren.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.