Countywide : Ailing Riley Flown to Minnesota Clinic

Former Orange County Supervisor Thomas F. Riley was taken from a Newport Beach hospital by air ambulance to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where he was reported in stable condition Thursday.

Riley, 83, who served on the Board of Supervisors for 20 years before retiring at the end of his term in December, is suffering serious pain from a cyst near his spine, the same type of ailment that forced him into surgery last year, said his wife, Emma Jane Riley.

Riley, a former Marine Corps general who has been in failing health in recent years, sounded upbeat and determined to tackle his illness when he talked to close friends in recent days.

“I talked to him Wednesday and he sounded pretty much like himself, anxious to find out what’s bothering him,” said former aide Christie McDaniel. “He’s quite the trooper.”

Riley was taken to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach on Tuesday and late Wednesday was flown to the noted Mayo Clinic in Rochester for treatment.

Clinic spokeswoman Shelly Plutowski said doctors were performing tests on Riley trying to work up a diagnosis and course of treatment for him and surgery was not being ruled out.