[From a camera in the wings, we see Tim from the back as he walks onto the immense stage, waving one hand at the cheering audience. They rise and cheer harder as he reaches the podium. Is this love? Adoration? It crescendos and then crashes over the stage like a wave of sonic affection. Mathews steps between Carpenter and the microphone and gestures for the audience to sit down. Silence.]
TIM: Thanks, Nathan. Thanks, Todd. Thanks to the Weekly. And thanks to you all. I'm deeply honored. I mean, you could have named this award after so many other people. Barbara Coe, who helped draft Proposition 187?
[Laughter.]
TIM: John Wayne? Bob Dornan? Harold Ezell?
[Laughter. Closeup of elderly couple —he shaking his head and clapping, she wiping tears of joy from her eyes.]
TIM: But really, all kidding aside, where else would a progressive activist want to live than Orange County? Where else would the tools of a political organizer be better-challenged? In the time I have been organizing on progressive issues, we've seen Bob Dornan join the ranks of the unemployed. We've seen the Weekly celebrate its fifth anniversary. Are these exciting times or what?
[Cheers of assent indicating that these are, indeed, exciting times.]
TIM: The list of finalists in the Weekly's Best Citizen category is very short, and I'd just like to point out that it could be supplemented by hundreds of other names. But these are, without a doubt, four people who have done much for Orange County, especially in the past year. The finalists are:
Deborah Muns-Park, an attorney with the LA-based firm of Sidley & Austin, handled the firm's pro bono work in Arthur Carmona's appeal case. You'll remember that Carmona's case was so strong it terrified the DA into releasing Carmona. Deborah Muns-Park is described by one associate as "a workaholic with a conscience." Which means she's not George Argyros, I guess.
[Much laughter. Muns-Park's photo spins onto one corner of the TV screen, followed by applause.]
TIM: Susie Newman is a Huntington Beach activist who is sometimes called the angriest homemaker in America. Newman is smart and dogged and was the Weekly's primary source in a series of investigations into Mayor Dave Garofalo.
[Newman, sitting in the front row, smiles. Applause. Her image spins onto another corner of the TV screen.]
TIM: Shirley Grindel is my good friend and a longtime good-government activist. She drafted the county's campaign-finance law and remains a terrific source for reporters and other activists trying to keep elected officials honest.
[Grindel smiles while an unidentified man next to her kisses her on the cheek. Much applause. Her picture spins onto the screen.]
TIM: Felix Schwarz, executive director of the Health Care Council of Orange County and one of the county's loudest, clearest voices on using tobacco-settlement money to fund public health services, not to pay off bankruptcy debt.
[Schwarz. Applause. Spinning picture.]
CARPENTER: And finally, Amin David, head of Latino civic organization Los Amigos. If Latinos are beginning to find their political voice in Orange County, one reason is my good friend Amin David.
[David. Applause. Picture.]
TIM: And the winner is . . .
[Tim fiddles with the envelope and appears stymied. He turns to Mathews for assistance.]
MATHEWS: I'll get my torch.
TIM: No, thanks.
[Nervous laughter. Carpenter tears at the envelope, removes a card, and reads it briefly—but long enough to create a twitching in the muscles of the finalists.]
TIM: The winner is . . . Shirley Grindel!
[Applause. Standing ovation. Wild cheering. Camera follows Grindel to the stage. Swaim comes onstage and hands her the trophy. She approaches the microphone.]
SHIRLEY Grindel: Thank you. Thank you. You know, in reflecting over the past 30 years as a resident of Orange County—what I used to refer to as "God's Country"—I am reminded of the dramatic changes. From thousands of acres of orange groves to wall-to-wall rooftops; from campaigns for county supervisor that cost no more than $l0,000 to the slick mail campaigns of today in which several hundred thousand dollars are spent; from a county known as "second only to Cook County in its political corruption" to a leader in the area of campaign-finance reform. But all is not perfect in this little corner of God's Country. If I had a genie's magic lamp, my wish list for Orange County would be: not one more house would be built; all undeveloped land would be purchased by the people to avoid more development. Elected officials would maintain the same degree of integrity and principles they claimed to have when they were running for office. No more "rush hour" traffic. Make the toll roads free. Marines should come back to El Toro and rid us of the divisive airport issue. Build an international airport between San Diego and Orange counties to serve the long-term airport needs of both. Get a new district attorney who is not afraid to prosecute political corruption cases. Convince the public they are better off with public funding of all campaigns than they are with all the special-interest money that gets special people elected to office—who then pass special laws for the benefit of the special interests that got them elected. My last wish?
[She pauses.]
GRINDEL: My last wish is that the genie would allow me three more wishes!
[Laughter. Applause.Fin.]
The festivities continue...
