Residents Want the Truth From Clinton : Politics: Those surveyed cite their pet peeves. They expect answers in the incoming President’s inaugural address.

If he hopes to satisfy Ventura County residents with his inauguration speech this week, President-elect Bill Clinton will have to come up with a pretty awesome performance.

He’ll have to jam on the saxophone and legalize marijuana.

He’ll have to curse environmentalists and embrace Ross Perot.

He’ll have to deliver new jobs and fix broken parking meters.

And he’ll have to look like Mel Gibson to boot.

As much as they hanker for big themes and memorable presidential rhetoric, voters throughout the county hope that the 42nd President of the United States will address their particular pet peeves.

Be it saving rain forests or lowering water rates, they want firm promises and credible plans during Clinton’s first speech as President on Wednesday.

But above all, they want the truth.

“I want to see some honesty from Bill Clinton,” said Sharon Lee, 45, a die-hard Ross Perot supporter who works in her family’s cluttered produce store on California 33 in the Ojai Valley.

“I don’t like being treated like I’m less intelligent than he is, and I don’t appreciate the fact that he’s shmutzing the American public.”

Straight talk may be painful, chef Suz Montgomery agreed, but it’s better than political platitudes.

“If taxes are indeed going to be higher, tell me the truth so I can be prepared,” Montgomery argued from behind the counter at the Cabo Grill in Ojai. “If something’s going to be done for the poor, spell it out and let them know what’s going to happen.”

With unemployment running about 10% in Ventura County, the economy ranked as concern--and preferred speech topic--No. 1 for many citizens.

They’re hoping Clinton will use his first presidential address to explain whether he’ll be able to fulfill campaign pledges to lower taxes on the middle class and increase investment while slashing the budget deficit.

And, of course, they’re eager to hear just how he plans to shake the recession.

“Jobs,” Jim Rivas of Ventura said, succinctly summarizing what he wants to hear on Inauguration Day.

“That’s what’s most on my mind now,” added the 32-year-old electrician, who has been working for minimum wage at an art supply store since losing his job last year.

“I don’t know what he can do--that’s why I’m not President,” Rivas said. “But I’m counting on him.”

A little optimism on the economy wouldn’t hurt either, Santa Paula resident Armando Aguilar, 27, suggested.

“What do I want Bill Clinton to say?” Aguilar asked. “That the recession’s over. It might help to say that instead of always being negative.”

In a county that Clinton only barely managed to carry over George Bush and Ross Perot, the Democratic President-elect has a lot to prove. Clinton’s first speech as commander in chief won’t make or break his presidential career, but it could sway some county skeptics.

“I think he’s a wimp,” avowed Clinton-hater Lance Marsh of Thousand Oaks.

But the 42-year-old administrator said he might--just might--change his mind if the new President “can stand up and be more forceful, stand on his own two feet instead of leaning on the opinions of those around him.”

Another move that might increase Clinton’s approval ratings in Ventura County: publicly asking Perot to join his staff--or at least promising to adopt the Texas billionaire’s idea of holding frequent town meetings.

“It sounds corny, but it works,” said Frank Toms, owner of Frank’s Furniture on Ventura’s Main Street.

With international crises in the Persian Gulf, Somalia and Bosnia, some Clinton backers said they want reassurance that the former Arkansas governor will stick to his announced agenda of focusing on domestic issues.

“I’d like the idiots--I mean the politicians--to finally realize they’ve got to take care of the people in their own country,” 64-year-old Joseph Stack said.

Smoking a fat cigar and leaning on his walking stick outside the Ventura Inn, Stack vented his fury at Clinton’s predecessors:

“Children are going hungry and the last three stooges we’ve had in office . . . were busy taking care of the rest of the world.”

Even as they debated which issues they would like the President to red-flag in his inauguration speech, most locals agreed with the cliche “talk is cheap.” The populace--not to mention the history books--will judge actions, not words.

“His first speech isn’t too important,” Santa Paula resident Brent Cookson said. “But I hope in four years, he’ll be able to make a speech about how much has changed.”

The 23-year-old Cookson, a minor league outfielder in the San Francisco Giants farm system, said Clinton should remind the world that he intends to “keep acting strong” against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

In addition to offering substantive suggestions, some local pundits couldn’t resist throwing in a few stylistic tips. A tad worried about Clinton’s tendency to pontificate, they said they hoped that the inauguration would reflect the Democrat’s energetic, casual campaign style.

“It seems as though Clinton likes to jog to lose weight, so I’d like to see him put this country in the same kind of program, to cut the fat and cut the gobbledygook and get real,” Toms said as he refinished a table in his antique store.

But even at what’s been billed as a low-key inauguration, Clinton is unlikely to wear his jeans and baseball cap. The aristocratic aura of black-tie balls and galas galore irritated Donna Keller of Simi Valley, a Perot booster who said, “I don’t like to think we’re spending $20 million for an inauguration--it’s just not necessary.”

The specter of extended close-up coverage of a McDonald’s-fed Baby Boomer in dark suit and patriotic tie also turned off Sally Kennedy, 42, a senior accounting clerk in Ventura’s city treasurer’s office.

“Like everyone knows, the President is just a figurehead anyway--someone else writes the speech,” Kennedy said. “Maybe if they put Mel Gibson up there, someone might listen.”