Don Roth’s Welcome Departure : Orange County supervisor, facing investigations, announces his long-overdue resignation

At long last, Orange County Supervisor Don R. Roth has done the right thing: He has announced he will resign, effective Monday.

His action clears the way for Gov. Pete Wilson to appoint someone who can devote full time to the problems of the county and the Fourth District. That is something that Roth--who is under investigation by the FBI, the Orange County district attorney’s office and the state Fair Political Practices Commission--has been unable to do for nearly a year.

Roth, 71, said he gave up the ghost because, in light of the investigations, he no longer could be effective. That’s true, and, quite frankly, the resignation was long overdue.

Roth, in fact, has been shown to be a politician who was out mainly for himself. Among other things, he was accused of violating state conflict-of-interest law by not reporting trips, meals and an interest-free loan from the Dougher family, which owns several mobile home parks in Orange County and has had important business before the Board of Supervisors.

Amid the increasing scrutiny of Roth’s activities, there were also other, ongoing reasons that the supervisor could no longer act in the best interest of his constituents. On Monday, for example, he abstained from two more government votes because of possible conflicts of interest. That made a total of 10 times since December that Roth recused himself from casting a ballot on an issue of importance to Anaheim, the largest city in his district, because of allegations that he had accepted a lifetime golf pass and other gifts from the city.

Last month, in the strongest indication so far of how serious Roth’s legal problems are, the district attorney’s office revealed its suspicions that he had engaged in perjury, theft of public funds, campaign money laundering, obstruction of justice and possibly other felonies. The suspicions were laid out in a lengthy affidavit seeking access to Roth’s banking records.

But now these problems are Roth’s alone to bear. Orange County government, distracted by the supervisor’s problems for too long, at last has an opportunity for a fresh start.

Several names are being mentioned as possible replacements for Roth. Among them are Ravinder Mehta, who currently is Gov. Wilson’s deputy appointments secretary, and Orange City Councilman William G. Steiner. Both are Republicans, as is Roth.

Whoever it is, the new supervisor should take a lesson from Roth in what not to do. He or she must bear in mind that to be a county supervisor means to be a public servant. That is, a supervisor must serve the public--not act in ways suggesting that the public trust is something to be milked for personal gain.