Changes in O.C. Came in Politics, Military, Labor : Analysis: The economic stall persisted. The El Toro base debate redrew political lines. New faces were everywhere.

A nine-letter word for 1993? That’s easy: recession.

All year, the economic downturn kept on downturning, burrowing so deep that it touched every aspect of Orange County--from boardroom to ballet.

Yet in 1993, there were other changes afoot, affecting some of the county’s institutions as much as the recession itself.

There’s new blood in control of the county’s largest university, its arts center, in politics, even at quarterback for the Rams. The Board of Supervisors is poised for an overhaul, a power shake-up played out at Carl’s Jr., and Disneyland’s longtime front man, Jack Lindquist, retired.

The county’s ethnic transformation continued as well, with new Asian and Latino faces playing a more visible role in local government.

Meanwhile, the county’s traditional anchors were slipping. Layoffs pervaded the aerospace industry, and home builders suffered. Even the military, a big part of the local economy since World War II, had to cut back and served notice that it would close bases in El Toro and Tustin.

“I remember when we used to read about the (economic) problems of Dallas,” said Jack W. Peltason, who was chancellor at UC Irvine before becoming UC president. “We thought, ‘We’re so diversified it won’t happen here. We have aerospace and tourism and housing.’ We were more vulnerable than we thought. It was a humbling experience.”

Casualty lists were being tacked up all over the county during the year as more than 15,000 jobs disappeared. Rockwell International laid off 125, then 500. McDonnell Douglas laid off 250 and said there might be more. Beckman Instruments: 200. Wells Fargo: 72. Even cities and the county were paring back their traditionally secure government jobs.

Carl Karcher Enterprises sent 60 employees packing, then 16 more, then one more--Carl Karcher himself, at 76 the county’s most venerable business leader. Over the last 52 years, Karcher had built the Carl’s Jr. chain from a single hot dog stand.

It was a rare, full-blown boardroom battle that was played out publicly.

When Karcher’s idea--sell Mexican-style food provided by a competitor, Green Burrito--was rejected by his handpicked president and board of directors, Karcher threatened a proxy fight. The board responded by ousting him as chairman because they suspected his proposal was based on easing his personal debts, not strengthening the corporation.

“I feel like I’ve been stripped of my office by a bunch of turncoats,” Karcher said. Eventually, Karcher was taken back as chairman emeritus with no control of day-to-day operations.

James Doti, an economic analyst and president of Chapman University, said there was change in the economy in 1993, but it was just so slight as to be nearly invisible. Employment was down by 15,200 jobs, he said, but that was better than 1992, when the work force shrank by 21,200 jobs. “To that extent,” he said, “we are in a recovery.”

The most significant economic event of 1993, he said, was not the spate of layoffs but the decision to shut down El Toro Marine Corps Air Station later this decade as part of Pentagon retrenchment. “If there’s anything that’s going to be critical to Orange County’s future, it will be how that land is utilized,” Doti said.

But it also turned out to be a watershed political event as well, for the El Toro base is a ready-made jet airport, and that’s a godsend or time bomb, depending on whether you live nearby. An intense political struggle ensued between the County Board of Supervisors, who claimed the right as the regional government to decide how to use the base land, and South County city councils, which feared that the county would favor a noisy commercial airport in their midst.

By year’s end, South County cities forced the board to retreat and concede some planning power to cities. It reflected how much power had shifted away from a Board of Supervisors that in previous years had overwhelming clout in such issues. In a county that now contains 32 cities, the board has prime jurisdiction over territory with only 9% of the county’s population.

A nearly new board will deal with the problems, for most of the old guard is gone or going.

Don R. Roth, dogged by a 10-month investigation into suspected influence peddling, resigned in February when he finally pleaded guilty to seven misdemeanor counts. His governor-appointed successor, child advocate and Orange City Council member William G. Steiner, was a harbinger of the board’s pending overhaul.

Thomas F. Riley, a supervisor since 1974, announced his impending retirement in ’93. So did Harriett M. Wieder, elected in 1978 as the first woman to the board. Steiner will face his first supervisorial election in 1994. None of the three seats at stake--a board majority--will have an elected incumbent on the ballot. A newly constituted board majority is a certainty.

City government didn’t have to wait until 1994 to see change cresting on the horizon. In Westminster, restaurateur Tony Lam was elected to City Council, the first Vietnamese immigrant to hold elective office in the nation. “We Vietnamese thought that we’d have to wait for the second generation to really get involved,” Lam said.

It was no surprise that his election closely followed a political awakening among the county’s Vietnamese Americans. Mai Cong, president of Vietnamese Community of Orange County, said Lam’s election showed “in a way, it was a year of sending out the message that we are here and we (will) stay here, and we will work to be more involved in the democratic political process in the United States.”

Vietnamese are learning what other immigrants have, she said: Get out the vote and politicians pay attention to you. A voter registration and get-to-the-polls drive led directly to his success, Lam said.

“I see a lot of change here.” Lam said. “I see the misconception and the attitude” about Vietnamese immigrants “has been changing. I earn a lot of respect from all walks of life here.”

Lam said he’s certain more Vietnamese elections gains will be coming soon, based on what has happened to other minorities. Latino gains had reached the point in 1993 that 35 Latinos were holding elected public office in Orange County.

The Orange County Grand Jury also called for change; it wanted a nationwide, three-year moratorium on all immigration, saying that illegal immigrants were costing the county $200 million a year in services. Presiding Superior Court Judge Donald E. Smallwood reacted by promising more ethnic diversity on future grand juries.

The political transition that was going to make 1993 a historic year in Orange County either crashed or never got off the ground.

There was a Democrat in the White House and some very prominent moderate Republicans joining his flock from Orange County. Roger Johnson, former president and CEO of Western Digital, took over the General Services Administration. Developer Kathryn Thompson was offering business advice to the President, who publicly proclaimed her “my good friend.”

Were Orange County Republicans shedding their conservative ways? The moderates said yes, and promised to prove it at the next election. When the chance came, however, they couldn’t muster a candidate to fill a vacated state Senate seat, and millionaire conservative Rob Hurtt strolled to victory in a special election.

Outside the political scene, however, there were some new faces.

Laurel L. Wilkening, from the University of Washington, became UCI’s third chancellor and the first woman to hold the post. The appointment, along with the nine previous appointments of women to high-level campus positions, made UCI a “flagship” for women’s advancement, said Judy Rosener, a UCI professor and author on women in management.

T.J. Rubley succeeded Jim Everett as field general of the Rams’ backfield, although observers were divided on whether it would make much difference. The team has won four and lost 10, what public relations people call “a disappointing season.”

Rams management was also disappointed by flagging attendance and the state of their Anaheim Stadium and practice-facility leases. Owner Georgia Frontiere, in a rare interview with The Times, explained that, painful as it was, she had to consider moving. Baltimore and St. Louis had been the most often mentioned destinations.

“My home is here,” she said. “It’s always tough to even think about having a change, but it’s something that has to be considered--but only considered.” She denied she was trying to lever negotiations, but added: “There is quite a discrepancy between what we have and what other cities provide, in my opinion. . . . It would be much nicer if we were appreciated.”

One familiar face had already left the Anaheim scene. Jack B. Lindquist, hired as Disneyland advertising manager six weeks after the park opened in 1955, retired as its president. A successor has not yet been named.

And a brand-new batch of faces quite suddenly arrived in the neighborhood. The Mighty Ducks, the first sports team to be made about a movie, were whipped into existence only seven months after the Walt Disney Co. came to terms with Anaheim officials. The pact immediately affirmed the city’s $103-million gamble that if it built the Anaheim Arena, a team would come. The Ducks arrived exactly on time.

Eisner outraged purists in March when he named the franchise after a recent Disney movie about a peewee hockey team. He later introduced a team emblem he called “a Goofy-ized Jason”--a duck-billed hockey mask variously described as “a fowl with a scowl” and “Jason McDuck.” But it was a marketing bull’s-eye. Ducks merchandise quickly became the hottest-selling in the league.

The Ducks are doing not too bad for an expansion team. They’ve won 13 games so far, a pace, if sustained, that would result in 30 wins. The best first-year teams, the Kings and Flyers, won 31. More important, said Disney Chairman Michael Eisner, the crowds have been large and the balance sheet in the black. “Going to make a lot of money? No, but enough to say we’re in a good business,” he said.

But Eisner gave, and Eisner can take away. Though the final approvals were obtained for the $3-billion Westcot expansion that would double the size of Disneyland, at year’s end Eisner began dribbling hints that the project was in serious doubt.

Westcot’s project director quietly resigned. Eisner said in an interview with The Times that money was going to decide whether the project continued. He wants more city and state help to pay for infrastructure improvements.

“We’ve had fantastic cooperation, anything that can be imagined, and we’re trying hard to accomplish something historic,” Eisner said. “We just have to judge whether or not at this time, with the cost of the projects, it makes economic sense for us. We simply have to study really closely whether there’s hope we can afford this kind of project. The state of California is not equipped to really be helpful at all, unlike other states. That’s the real rub.”

In any case, there will be no construction in 1994, Eisner said. The boost that construction would give the county’s economy is still far off.

Such a prognosis is particularly painful in the arts, which depends on the generosity of patrons.

Tom Tomlinson, who took over executive directorship of the Orange County Performing Arts Center from retiring Thomas R. Kendrick, said patrons most likely will see no major changes in what types of events come to the center. But there may be fewer dance performances, he said.

The real change will be subtle: “Developing programming that works with the different economy.” Translation: The box office is even more important than usual.

But don’t expect 50 weeks of Broadway, he added. “We’re so heavily booked, the opportunity to make major shifts is just not there.”

Even next door, at South Coast Repertory, which has a 30-year history of successful fund raising, the economic pinch is hurting.

“We had one of the more successful seasons we ever done,” said Artistic Director Martin Benson. “We’re finding that even given that, it’s a real struggle just to stay in place. The recession has had a profound, chilling effect. People are telling us, ‘Look, we just don’t have the dough.’ ”

Peltason, who now lives in the Bay Area, says you have to leave and return before you realize that optimism is the proper attitude in Orange County.

“I think along with the slowing down of the (economic) downtrend, there are signs that in 1994 the economy will stabilize. Expectations have become more realistic, and that’s not all bad. . . .

“When I come back to Orange County, I see that those of you who live here all the time don’t realize what you have going for you down here: the quality of life, the growth of the university, the Performing Arts Center, the diversification of the community. The assets are still there, what makes it such a desirable place to live and work.”

What’s Ahead in 1994

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