Looking for Resolutions to Nagging Pains in the Year-End

In late November of last year, a group of Chapman University students and faculty members asked me to assess “Orange County at Year’s End.”

Unable to think of anything provocative to say, I ultimately suggested to them that, like “Old Man River,” Orange County just seemed to keep rolling along. Within days, the county declared the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

I knew at that point I could kiss my year-ender goodbye.

The Chapman people did not invite me back this year, perhaps reasoning they could get a Keebler elf to provide similar insight but without needing to worry about securing a campus parking pass for him.

If they had invited me, however, this would have been the heart of my text:

This was the Year of the Billable Hour in Orange County. Everybody who was anybody had a lawyer, and some had more than one, moving effortlessly between potential civil and criminal liability. Bill Popejoy never had a lawyer, and look what the supervisors did to him.

It’s only fitting, then, that as the year winds down, much of our attention is focused on the district attorney’s office, the county grand jury and the courts. Will anyone be indicted for plunging the county into bankruptcy? Will everyone be indicted? Will the Board of Supervisors have a quorum by Feb. 1? Who will get off easy? Who will take the fall?

Meanwhile, another source of curiosity is the D.A.’s investigation into the recent 67th Assembly District election, in which previous unknown Scott Baugh finished first. Wouldn’t you know it, before long, Baugh had hired a lawyer. That puts him in somewhat of an honorary position in the Year of the Billable Hour because, after all, Baugh himself is a lawyer and has come out of nowhere to need one.

Some will tell you that the Baugh investigation is a waste of time, but we think not. The arcane concept (to some) of the “integrity of the election process” is involved. When someone with no record of public service surfs a big cash wave to victory and is soon thereafter called in to answer questions by the district attorney, we have a right to know what happened.

No one is saying Baugh has committed a capital offense. Right now, he’s just got a clumsy story working, but who knows, maybe it’ll pan out. The key thus far is that even his fellow Republicans on the ballot accused him of lying from the get-go. Unfortunately, that makes us suspicious about the charming stranger. If it turns out that Baugh’s version of events holds up, we can close the books and wish him well. If his version doesn’t hold up, the public will have been well-served by being made aware of someone whose very first foray into elective office was tainted.

Speaking of which, keep an eye peeled in 1996 for how much influence the Orange County Republicans have on state government. One would hope the answer is “minimal to none,” but you don’t always get what you hope for. Tiresome, I know, but they’re playing the “revolution” game--just as their big-boy counterparts in Congress--and claiming that they represent the wave of the present and future in California.

As waves do, however, theirs crests and recedes with regularity. The next time a local Republican talks about carrying the mantle for Californians, someone might remind them that their whipping boy President Clinton has in recent months outpointed both Gov. Pete Wilson and GOP presidential front-runner Bob Dole in California polls.

It seems the overall electorate, both Republican and Democrat, is a little more temperate than our local heroes. Please, let’s keep that as our mantra for 1996.

Hard as it is to believe, the man in the statehouse spotlight is Curt Pringle from Garden Grove. Our thinking continues to be that, at core, he’s a good guy, but, oh, we suspect he’s vulnerable to doing unsavory things, just to prove he’s a “player.” We’re afraid Pringle has never forgotten how Willie Brown treated him as an incoming freshman. Our best-case scenario is that Pringle will follow his best instincts. Our worst-case is that he’s a baby-faced Nixon. It might be a good idea to keep an eye on him.

In fact, one key to 1996 might be whether, at any point, Pringle hires a lawyer.

* Dana Parsons’ columns appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.