A Final Stroke: State Approves Contested Merger of Art Museums

The state attorney general’s office has approved the controversial merger of the Laguna and Newport Harbor Art Museums, removing the last official hurdle in the 8-month-old effort to create a countywide institution.

Merger proponents, who expected the approval, said Wednesday that they are elated and are not overly concerned that opponents say they will continue their efforts to block formation of the Orange County Museum of Art.

All that remains is for the presidents of each museum to sign a merger document, which will happen “soon,” according to Newport Harbor trustee Charles D. Martin, the county museum’s president-elect.

The county museum will operate out of the current Newport Harbor site, which is being expanded. Satellite galleries will be operated at Laguna’s current properties in Laguna Beach and at the South Coast Plaza mall in Costa Mesa. Martin said a decision whether to move the county museum to a larger site will be made by the end of 1997.

Martin said he believes there is “absolutely no merit” to the contention by a vocal group of merger opponents, Motivated Museum Members, that the Laguna museum acted “illegally” in merger discussions.

The opponents, who want the Laguna museum to remain autonomous, argue among other things that trustees gave members “misleading and fraudulent” information about reasons for the merger, including assertions that the Laguna museum was “bankrupt or soon would be,” according to the group’s attorney, Belinda Blacketer.

Blacketer said that within the week she will ask a judge to postpone the merger at least until Aug. 5, when museum members are scheduled to vote whether to recall Laguna trustees as requested by merger opponents.

The group’s leaders also have asserted that the attorney general did not investigate the group’s claims that donations or gifts to the Laguna museum came with restrictions prohibiting their use outside the city.

“He has not looked at any evidence,” said president Vern Spitaleri.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Jim Cordi said Wednesday that the museums “can go ahead with the merger.” He added, however, that his office, which regulates charitable organizations, always reserves the right to further investigate such matters.

He also said that “if there is a restriction on the use of the [Laguna museum’s] assets, the merger does not change that restriction.” He would not elaborate.

But Ellen R. Marshall, the Laguna museum’s attorney, said no such restriction exists, and in any case, “There is no such thing as reversing a merger.”

Laguna trustee David Emmes II, who has been the museum’s point man during the merger talks, rebutted Blacketer’s charge that members had been misled.

“The museum has been on the brink of insolvency” because of deep reductions in public and private arts funding, a condition that exists nationwide, Emmes said.

Meanwhile, Martin said, “planning and analysis” for operating the county museum have begun. Merger proponents have asserted that the museum would attract major donations of art and cash, but efforts to solicit such gifts have been on hold while the merger has been under review, Martin said.

A staffing plan has been drafted, said Laguna museum director Naomi Vine, who will fill the same role at the county museum. Only two of the current museums’ combined 26 employees will be laid off, Vine said.

Newport Harbor’s chief curator, Bruce Guenther, will become the county museum’s chief curator. His counterpart at Laguna, Bolton Colburn, will serve as senior curator, Vine said, adding that the decision was based on “experience and seniority.”

“The biggest change we’re planning is to put more emphasis on education,” Vine said. “We believe we’ll be able to do exponentially more than either museum can do alone.”

Vine said officials have yet to discuss programming to any significant degree.

Martin said Newport Harbor has reduced its $200,000 deficit, a condition of the merger, and now is operating with a $200,000 surplus.

The opponents’ group, meanwhile, has collected more than $10,000 through a recent fund-raiser and plans to use the money to publicize the Aug. 5 recall meeting and for legal expenses, according to president Spitaleri. Another fund-raiser is slated for late July.