TIMES ORANGE COUNTY POLL : Residents' Fury Builds Over Financial Debacle : Respondents spread blame among an array of figures. About half say they favor a recall of three supervisors.

By JULIE MARQUIS

Jan. 27, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Nearly two months after Orange County tumbled into its historic bankruptcy crisis, the debacle looms in residents’ minds as the county’s largest and most pressing problem, dwarfing all other concerns including crime, according to a new Times Orange County Poll.

The fiasco has ignited fury throughout the county at a wide range of public and private figures, particularly former county Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron and the Board of Supervisors. Asked about the three remaining supervisors who were in office when the crisis broke, many residents said all of them--Gaddi H. Vasquez, William G. Steiner and Roger R. Stanton--should be booted from office.

The crisis has overshadowed other perennial concerns such as jobs and the economy, immigration, traffic and schools. “Never before in our polling has one issue taken center stage and dominated public attention the way that the bankruptcy has today,” said Mark Baldassare, who conducted the poll.

Sixty-one percent of Orange County residents say the fiscal calamity is the biggest problem confronting the county, vastly outstripping the 13% who list crime as their No. 1 concern. In the Orange County Annual Survey, conducted by UC Irvine just five months ago, crime topped the list for nearly a third of county residents.

Rather than waning with time, the concern grows. Seventy-three percent of respondents described themselves as worried about the crisis--five points more than in a previous Times Orange County Poll in mid-December. The tension is most pronounced among those who earn less than $50,000 a year, with almost a third of that group reporting they are “very worried.” Most residents are not counting on a quick resolution. Sixty percent expect the crisis to dog the county for two years or more, and 25% think it will drag into the next century.

As the anxiety over the fiscal fiasco has spread, so has residents’ wrath. Eighty-four percent of respondents, the 600 people polled between Jan. 20 and 23, described themselves as angry over the crisis, with slightly more than half saying they are “very angry.” The number of residents who said they are very angry climbed 12 points since the December poll, the new poll shows.

The political fallout could be devastating to local officeholders. The crisis has aggrieved residents in the upper-income brackets--those making more than $50,000 a year--even more than those drawing lower incomes. That’s bad news for elected officials, Baldassare noted, because these residents tend to be most politically active.

And the blame is spreading. More than half of residents say the responsibility doesn’t rest on any individual’s shoulders. Those polled tend to believe everyone involved in the crisis should take some lumps--including Citron, supervisors and Merrill Lynch & Co., the county’s bond underwriters.

“There’s enough blame to go around,” said Grace Azvedo, a 62-year-old Tustin resident and a retired school district accounting supervisor. “There were enough dumb things (done) to go around.”

Citron is no longer residents’ primary political target. While in December one in five blamed Citron most for the crisis, residents now are inclined to hold county supervisors more responsible.

Almost half favor recalling Vasquez, Stanton and Steiner, while about a quarter would oppose such an effort. Two other members of the board, in office when the crisis hit, retired this month.

Republicans are even more inclined than Democrats to favor ousting the remaining supervisors, all of whom are Republicans and were in office when the county declared bankruptcy Dec. 6.

“They weren’t accountable,” said Bill Paine, 32, a fifth-grade teacher who lives in Rancho Santa Margarita. “They are not expected to know everything (but) they should have some experts reporting to them, not just leave it in the hands of one or two individuals and have the rest of us suffer (for their mistakes). . . . I think they needed to be better informed as far as what’s going on with our finances.”

Residents’ ire is not restricted to elected officials, however. Slightly more than half support Ernie Schneider’s removal from his position as county administrative officer. County supervisors voted Monday to demote Schneider.

In follow-up interviews, several poll respondents said Thursday they are seething over all the political finger-pointing.

“No one wants to take responsibility over it,” said Ron Beron, 40, a college instructor and registered Republican. “It makes me furious. People are losing their jobs!”

Others said they wanted to see county supervisors pay--literally--for what they consider bureaucrats’ fiscal folly.

“What sacrifices have the supervisors made?,” asked Azvedo. “They can give (up) their car allowances. . . . We’re not talking about a big corporation, there shouldn’t be big perks. . . . These (officials) are employed by the people.”

Residents gave lukewarm ratings to Gov. Pete Wilson and his response to the crisis as well. Only three in ten said he has done a good job in responding, and a quarter said he has reacted poorly--hardly a ringing endorsement for a Republican who won two-thirds of the vote in Orange County in last November’s election.

But the poll provides some positive news for John M.W. Moorlach, the Republican accountant who opposed Democrat Citron in last June’s treasurer’s race and tried to warn county officials about the incumbent’s high-risk investment practices.

Half of those polled would like to see Moorlach installed as county treasurer, with Republicans favoring the move much more than Democrats.

Most residents believe wasteful government spending--not the pinch of Proposition 13 tax limits--is the root cause of the disaster. Two-thirds of those polled--including large majorities of both Democrats and Republicans--said the crisis partly resulted from an overstaffed and wasteful county government.

Fewer than one in five respondents said Proposition 13 forced officials to look for new revenue sources to run schools and services--including the risky investments that brought about the county’s bankruptcy.

CAUSES: Waste is to blame, not Proposition 13, most say. A22

PAYBACK: Plan would set aside sales taxes to repay bondholders. A26

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

TIMES ORANGE COUNTY POLL

Bankruptcy Concern, Anger Growing

The county’s bankruptcy problem now dwarfs all other concerns among residents, and the percentage saying they are very angry about actions taken by local officials has increased substantially in the past five weeks:

What do you think is the biggest problem facing Orange County today?

Bankruptcy: 61%

Crime: 13%

Jobs, economy: 7%

Immigration: 3%

Growth: 3%