A tale of expensive cars and cheap shots

STEVE SMITH

If you live in Newport Beach, you are at the top of the heap in

Orange County. But being on top comes with a downside -- namely, that

you make a large target for anyone who wants to take a cheap shot.

That was the case when Scott Duke Harris wrote his Orange County

hit piece in the Los Angeles Times Magazine on May 1. Since that

story was published and since this newspaper published a subsequent

On the Town column in which I had a chance to rebut some of the

messages it contained, I have heard from a number of people who are

as upset as I was that such a slanted, inconsequential story could

get published in an otherwise reputable magazine.

One of the people I sought was Garth Blumenthal, the general

manager of Fletcher Jones Motorcars in Newport Beach.

The article, you may recall, focused a lot on Mercedes-Benz

automobiles -- the collage on the cover of the magazine even had a

license plate with a Fletcher Jones frame around it.

Reading the section on the car dealership, one might believe that

they are ready to sell or lease a car to anyone with a pulse. What

you did not read was that Fletcher Jones Motorcars gives as good as

they get.

“We’re very involved in a tremendous number of charity groups,”

Blumenthal told me, “including the March of Dimes, Childhelp USA and

Orangewood.”

At Fletcher Jones Motorcars, the community involvement goes beyond

doing the right thing once in awhile. Giving back is, in fact, an

integral part of its marketing program, no less optional to them than

paying the rent or the phone bill.

“At our Tuesday sales meetings, we use that time to look at

requests for our help,” said Blumenthal. “We try to support as many

as possible, whether it’s a golf tournament or a silent auction item.

Anything focused on children and schools is our priority.”

Caren Lancona, one of the story’s biggest interviews, contacted me

in an effort to tell her side of her life in Orange County.

“[Scott Duke Harris] got so much wrong,” Lancona told me. “He had

a preconceived idea. He had this idea that we are nothing but a ‘shop

till you drop,’ shallow, plastic place, like the TV show, ‘The OC,’”

said Lancona. “I’m a native of Orange County, and that kind of place

is not familiar to me.

“I couldn’t get him to talk about the right part of Orange County.

He was stuck on the frivolous parts. He just had an angle and wanted

to make it look like [people in Newport Beach] were living large at

the expense of others.”

In an effort to support his agenda of excess, Harris even got a

major proof point wrong, writing that Lancona has two

Mercedes-Benzes. She has one.

And Harris spent only a little time on what makes Lancona tick --

that is, her involvement in the charity Just Friends, which has

contributed large sums to various organizations including Children’s

Hospital of Orange County, Working Wardrobe and the Surfrider

Foundation.

“I work very hard,” said Lancona, “sometimes 100 hours per week. I

am always working. But I am also giving back to the community and

always make sure we support other Orange County companies.”

Apparently, Harris did have an agenda besides slamming Newport

Beach, but not a hidden one. “He told me he was writing a book,”

said Lancona.

Criticizing Newport Beach is about as difficult as shooting fish

in a barrel. It’s a town that is an easy target for those who have

not achieved much, who think that being wealthy is evil and who have

never taken a risk in their lives.

Spend time in Newport Beach, and it will not take long to realize,

as I wrote in a previous column, that most of the folks here work

hard for their money. They know that hard work, not shortcuts, is the

key to success. But telling that story doesn’t make for a good hit

piece.

And apparently, the trappings of success rubbed off on the writer.

“At Fletcher Jones,” said Lancona “[Scott Duke Harris] showed me

some brochures he had picked up and he told me that he was thinking

about buying a Mercedes-Benz.”

I suggest that a guy who has to borrow his mom’s Ford Escort to

drive around town focus on making some more money before he thinks

about buying or leasing a new Mercedes-Benz.

That’s the way it’s done in Newport Beach.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer.

Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at

(714) 966-4664 or send story ideas to [email protected].