ORANGE COUNTY IN BANKRUPTCY : O.C. Chamber Gets Frosty Reception at Capitol : Lobbying: Group members meet with governor, legislators but find little sympathy for Orange County’s plight.

Diane Coltrane has taken business and social trips to Sacramento before, but last week marked her first attempt at lobbying her legislators.

Coltrane joined nearly 40 Orange County Chamber of Commerce & Industry members whose two-day lobbying effort coincided with a highly publicized appearance before state legislators by Orange County Chief Executive Officer William J. Popejoy.

Democratic legislators responded coolly to Popejoy’s request for state loan guarantees to keep the county afloat, and some chamber members said they drew a polite but cool reception from legislators.

“I can’t say that anyone gave us a lot of sympathy,” Coltrane said. “We probably got less sympathy from Democrats than the GOP, and some people were standoffish. I do think there is jealousy about Orange County, the richest county in the U.S., having made a big mistake. There was a lot of, ‘You’ve had it your way for so long, and now you have to suffer.’ ”

Dale W. Botts, an environmental engineer at Steelcase Inc. in Tustin, agreed that some legislators are using the fiscal crisis to extract a pound of flesh for past slights by the county--real or perceived.

“No one was hostile,” said Botts, who was also making his first political foray to Sacramento. “But there was a sense that it was pay-back time for Orange County legislators for the fact that there wasn’t a whole lot of (sympathy) from this area” when other parts of the state were devastated by natural disasters.

Despite the tough political rhetoric, members of the chamber group expressed confidence that state legislators will act in time to keep Orange County’s financial crisis from deepening.

“I think they needed to hear from just plain old citizens who care what goes on in their city,” said Haydee V. Tillotson, a Huntington Beach business owner and GOP activist who ran unsuccessfully for former Supervisor Harriett Wieder’s seat last year. “The comment most of us heard again and again was that we haven’t come up yet with a (legislative) package, and that they need something specific to look at.”

Bankruptcy was the last thing on chamber executives’ minds when the lobbying trip was planned last year. Typically, chamber members bring a wide array of experts to lobby legislators on normal business issues.

But the Dec. 6 bankruptcy filing ensured that the lobbying trip was anything but business as usual. Chamber members spent Wednesday and Thursday in meetings with Gov. Pete Wilson, Secretary of Trade and Commerce Julie Meier Wright and nearly two dozen legislators.

“Given the bankruptcy, the timing could not have been better,” said Wayne Wedin, an executive with the chamber and the Industrial League of Orange County. “I’m absolutely convinced that from the governor on down, there’s a significant understanding of the seriousness of the problem.”

Wedin acknowledged that Orange County is taking its lumps during the rough-and-tumble political process.

“Knowledgeable senior members of both parties basically said there was certain amount of Orange County bashing going on that was more political than factual,” Wedin said. “We sat down with senior Democratic (officials) who said that it’s been kind of fun (to bash Orange County).”

Legislators “reminded us that our conservative Republican delegation voted no against a lot of stuff that would have helped in other disasters” elsewhere in the state, said one business executive who asked not to be identified. “A lot of them were excited to give us the finger.”

Despite the rhetoric, Coltrane said that the trip was worthwhile.

“I think legislators realized that we were concerned business people, who were coming to them with humility,” Coltrane said. “We asked for their consideration but we didn’t ask them for a handout. We talked to Republicans and Democrats alike, to whomever would listen.”

Botts said that business people who made the trip didn’t have to apologize for their actions.

“It was very difficult for me to be put in this situation, to discuss this (bankruptcy), because I’m really flabbergasted at the way it all happened. I wouldn’t have handled my own money the way Robert Citron did, and if I were in a supervisory role over (Citron), I would have had a lot more oversight.”

Tillotson said that business people “were there to knock on doors, to let them know we’re from Huntington Beach, Seal Beach or whatever city, and that we were there to say we have a problem.

“We weren’t asking for a handout,” Tillotson said. “We want to be able to find a solution to our problem.”

Wedin said that legislators welcomed the group’s business-like approach: “We didn’t go in and say ‘Write us a check and send it down by next Thursday.’ I think that they respected that.”