Bottom Lines: Lawyers Won, Angels Zeroes

Not content with $26 million and a heartfelt “Hey, thanks!”, a law firm wants Orange County to give it a $48-million bonus for helping recoup investment losses that plunged the county into bankruptcy in 1994. If you’re scoring at home, that’s $74 million.

The county has gagged on the bonus request from Hennigan, Mercer & Bennett, which submitted it to a federal judge to consider at a hearing next month.

A senior partner at the firm justified the request by saying lawyers worked long and hard during the 4 1/2 years of bankruptcy litigation and, oh, by the way, won $865 million in settlements for the once-beleaguered county.

The county sees it somewhat differently. Supervisor Tom Wilson says the bonus request “gives lawyers a bad name.”

Presumably, Wilson thinks $74 million is too much to pay for what the county got.

Wilson is usually a pretty level-headed guy, but I wonder if he’s applied a simple performance comparison between the Lawyers and another local firm: the Angels.

In short, who has given Orange County more bang for the buck--Hennigan, Mercer & Bennett or DiSarcina, Vaughn & Salmon?

The Lawyers have hit us up for $26 million and want another $48 million. Orange County taxpayers would pony up for it.

The Angels’ payroll is in the $60-million range this year, and we Orange Countians helped pay for it in ticket prices, parking fees and concession prices. Sure, they give us a fireworks show once in a while, but no one is saying they’ve worked long and hard.

And what has that $60 million been good for?

Absolutely nothing.

At this writing, only two teams in the league have a worse record than the ’99 Halos. And neither is spending $60 million.

The Angels have embarrassed Orange County far more than going broke ever did. I can’t even stand to watch the sports news for fear of seeing Angel highlights.

A simple test: Who would you rather kick in the pants, former County Treasurer Robert Citron or Mo Vaughn?

The Angels were considered a good bet, at minimum, to win their division. Instead, they’ve rolled over like wet daisies in the face of injuries and the opposition. For $60 million, they’ve given us about $12 million worth of baseball.

Contrast that with the tenacious performance of the Lawyers.

Orange County was a perennial favorite of Wall Street before falling on its face at the end of 1994. You remember 1995, don’t you? The county was reeling and directionless.

In stepped the Lawyers and by the end of 1998, everything had turned around.

If only Disney could make that claim about the Angels. Instead, the team is going in the opposite direction, and Disney might even sell it. Sure, the team had some key injuries this season, but do you think the Lawyers felt great every day they spent in court? You think they couldn’t have said, “Sorry, we have a couple people hurt, we’ll settle for $765 million instead of 865.”

Of course, they could have done that. But they didn’t.

It’s called being a gamer. It’s called digging a little deeper.

Rather than feeling sorry for themselves, the Lawyers took on Merrill Lynch (tougher than the Texas Rangers by a long ways) and various other challengers in the investment and legal worlds.

Did the Lawyers bicker among themselves? Fail to execute? Phone in the case?

Hardly. They left the opposition with their tails between their legs and happy to get out of Orange County alive.

Now all the Lawyers want is a measly $14 million more than the Angels paid out this season at Edison Field.

Supervisor Wilson was quick to denounce the Lawyers. Looks to me like they had an outstanding season.

As for the Angels . . .

They’ve truly given ballplayers a bad name.

*

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