Alleged Affair Has O.C. Tongues Wagging

Waiting in a lunchtime line here at Pedro’s Tacos, a popular Mexican-food stand, skilled tradesman Tony Williams smiled a little slyly at fresh allegations concerning President Clinton’s sex life.

“Whatever he did or didn’t do, I see nothing wrong with it,” said Williams, 38, of Corona. “What if he had a fling with some 24-year-old? He’s just a man.”

“He’s supposed to be more than a man. He’s our president!” snapped 65-year-old Lynn Heying of Yorba Linda from the front of the line.

In the land of free speech, people spoke freely--and sometimes loudly--around Orange County on Thursday whenever the issue of Clinton’s latest alleged affair surfaced in conversation.

News of a new sex scandal was so potent, it blurred traditional political loyalties and sent people scurrying to television sets and newspapers to learn more.

“This is better than any soap opera. . . . It’s ‘Melrose Place’ and ‘Dallas’ rolled into one,” said Victoria Lopez, a Santa Ana office secretary nibbling on French fries outside a Burger King. “People can’t stop talking about it--in the office, at the supermarket last night.”

For others, the scandal was life imitating art as the satirical movie “Wag the Dog” portrays a cadre of top-secret White House operatives managing a presidential sex scandal.

“I swear, I was watching [White House Press Secretary] Mike McCurry’s press conference [Thursday] and I kept looking for [Robert] De Niro in the background telling him what to say,” said Lisa Sweeny, 39, a legal recruiter, referring to a scene in the movie.

The new scandal showcased some differences in the way men and women look at life as well as politics. Clinton’s affair with intern Monica Lewinsky--if it happened--seemed to bother women more than men.

A male view:

“They’re normal human beings. People have extramarital affairs,” said taxi driver Chris Madden while waiting for fares at the train station in San Juan Capistrano. “It’s bad, maybe, but it happens.”

A female view:

“He’s a creep--that’s what I say,” said Gina Fernandez, a maintenance supervisor having lunch at the Burger King in Santa Ana. “What kind of a grown man would have sex in the White House with a young woman like that?”

Nearby sat diner Joe Able. “Listen, nothing has been proven yet,” Able said. “It’s all rumors.”

“I know all I need to know,” Fernandez shot back.

On the streets of Orange County, people seem far more interested in whether the affair between the 51-year-old president and the intern, then 21, took place. But the real issue for prosecutors is whether Clinton sent word to Lewinsky to help conceal things by lying. Politicians talked of impeachment and made parallels to Watergate.

But many Clinton supporters yawned, saying the allegations fail to compare with the constitutional standoff that brought down Orange County native son Richard M. Nixon in 1974.

“The economy is good, unemployment is down--those are the things I care about. Not who he’s sleeping with,” said Chuck Ousley, 50, of Mission Viejo, one of the patrons at J.J.’s Lounge in Orange.

Ousley said he viewed Clinton as a political leader. “If I need a spiritual advisor, I’ll turn to Billy Graham,” he said.

Like Watergate in its day, the Clinton sex allegations were discussed in school classrooms around Orange County.

“I think he’s a good leader, but he’s obviously not a good husband,” said Jordan Russell, 18, a Dana Hills High School senior who took part in a discussion in her journalism class. “This is what the Republicans have been waiting for and they’re going to pounce all over it.”

The Dana Hills High newspaper staff is planning to include the Clinton alleged sex scandal in their next editorial titled, “How Sick Is Our Society?” And students said jokes on the topic are common.

But students worry: Are we drowning out the important issues?

“What about the Palestinian crisis? What about the way he’s leading the country?” 16-year-old asked Dana Hills High junior Joe Azam of Laguna Niguel. “It seems more like partisan politics and a ploy to bash his character.”

At Irvine High School, students debated the public’s right to know versus the basic issues of government.

“Is our elected representative sleeping around?” posed senior Matt Rough as he was leaving his government class. “The public has the right to know.”

Retorted classmate Kesla Childers: “What’s more important, who Clinton was sleeping with or what’s going on in our government?”

At Superior Court in Santa Ana, lawyers were having a grand time dissecting the legal issues, the wording of Clinton’s statements and the upcoming special prosecutor’s investigation. But there was sympathy for members of Clinton’s family.

“The one I feel sorry for is Kelsey,” said Dan Donohue.

“Chelsea,” corrected his wife, Brenda, as she waited to testify in a civil trial on the ninth floor of Superior Court.

“Hillary has a choice, as terrible a choice as it is, to accept or not accept,” Brenda Donohue said. “But Chelsea, she’s the innocent victim. How’d you like to wake up and hear that about your dad on TV? How embarrassing to be young and naive and at Stanford and wonder what your friends are saying behind your back. The poor thing.”

Around tables at a Diedrich’s Coffee in Costa Mesa, the purported scandal involving Clinton and the young woman from California held little interest. But it wasn’t apathy.

“I’m having a heart attack and they rush me to the hospital and I ask the doctor, ‘You’re not having any extramarital affairs are you? Because if you are, I want to be transferred to another hospital,’ ” mused Jerry Jones, 60, a former stockbroker from Costa Mesa having a cup of coffee.

“It appeals to the soap opera audience,” he said. “All the media has turned into the National Enquirer.”

Ed Knight, a general contractor from Huntington Beach, said there are too many other important issues to get sidetracked by a questionable scandal that has its roots as testimony from another questionable scandal--the Paula Jones incident. “No one I know thinks it’s news, but it’s filling a vacuum,” Knight said.

Popping in for a quick cup, Joanne Krotee of Costa Mesa pronounced the uproar “a waste of time.”

“I don’t give a hoot what he did,” she said. “That’s Hillary’s problem.”

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Contributing to this report were Times staff writers Shelby Grad and Janet Wilson and correspondents Hope Hamashige and Jean O. Pasco.