For Once, It’s No Fun Watching a Public Figure Squirm

Few things in life give more pleasure than watching a smarmy, sanctimonious public figure take it in the neck. Remember how we wanted to declare a national holiday when Jimmy Swaggart went down? Whether it’s pure Schadenfreude or the loftier notion of seeing hypocrisy exposed, these people’s miseries and downfalls add a special tingle to life’s drudgery.

Then there are the Bill Steiners of the world.

When you see him in the soup, your reaction isn’t to rejoice but to wince. You almost wish the poisoned dart aimed at him would miss or, at worst, graze him. He comes across as a regular guy trying to do the job, not particularly interested in throwing his weight around or telling us how to live our lives.

In the world of public servants, that makes Steiner one of the good guys. The fact that he will forever be identified as the man most responsible for establishing the Orangewood Children’s Home has probably cinched his reputation.

Yet, the posse is after Steiner and Roger Stanton, the two surviving supervisors who were around when Orange County made the financial decisions that sent it into bankruptcy. The other three either finished out their terms or resigned. If they hadn’t, there surely would be grand jury accusations against all five sitting supervisors, instead of leaving Stanton and Steiner in the spotlight among their former colleagues.

Stanton has already said he won’t run for reelection next year, but Steiner still has three full years left. That, plus the high regard in which Steiner is held, makes the question of whether he should stay or go much more compelling.

The grand jury accusations against the two supervisors make perfect sense. While the public’s thirst for blood may have abated since last December, the grand jury’s action against Steiner and Stanton is in perfect harmony with what the public said from the outset of the bankruptcy--namely, that the supervisors didn’t supervise and should be held accountable.

The grand jury, quite appropriately, didn’t accuse the supervisors of greasing their pockets or engaging in the slightest corruption. If their charge could be put in layman’s language, it would simply read: “You were asleep at the switch, and it cost the county dearly.”

None of the supervisors has ever fully grasped that concept, and will probably take to their graves the certainty that they were hoodwinked. Yet, Steiner has conceded he could have and should have done more to question former Treasurer Bob Citron, who has pleaded guilty to felonies.

The debate question then becomes, what is the proper punishment for sleeping on the job?

“I would like to see it blow over and see him stay,” says Lois Lundberg, an admirer of Steiner and former head of the county Republican Party. “I think the county is very lucky to have a caring man of his caliber.”

Lundberg says Steiner’s failure of oversight is forgivable in the context of normal human error. “I just feel awful about what happened to him,” she says, adding she worries that his removal from office will have a dampening effect on “really good people” who may be considering politics.

“If you can be as good a guy as Steiner is, as straight an arrow as he is and have the honest reputation that he does and still find yourself in a muddle like this, this is probably kind of frightening to a person,” Lundberg says. “If you were contemplating a career in politics and you had this sterling reputation going in, I think you’d worry about having something like this come down on you.”

A longtime Social Services Agency employee, however, is not as charitable. “I would hope he would resign quickly and take responsibility for what he has done,” the employee says. “I don’t think either he or Stanton has done that to this point. If he wants to repair his credibility, he’s got to do that.”

Usually, a politician’s ego prevents him from surrendering until his last ally has departed. No doubt, Steiner will have many friends and admirers encouraging him to stay and feeding his sense that only by fighting the accusation can he redeem himself.

A fair debate point, but only if you see the charge against Steiner as human tragedy.

It need not be seen that way at all, and in that spirit, I tried to imagine myself in Steiner’s shoes. Here’s the public statement I would read:

“I know I didn’t do anything criminal while in office, but I did screw up. My integrity is intact, but I don’t like the unseemliness of being a sitting supervisor while under formal sanction from a grand jury of my fellow citizens. While I disagree with their finding, I am accepting their action against me as representing the voice of the people. The county has paid a heavy price for the board’s failures, and if only to acknowledge my role in that disaster, I will resign.”

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Dana Parsons’ columns appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by writing to him at the Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or calling (714) 966-7821.