THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE:

Despite having no formal control over the Orange County Fair and Events Center, members of the Costa Mesa City Council have come out strongly in support of keeping the equestrian center where it is.

Recently the board that controls the fairgrounds voted to start a study that will look into the possibility of removing the 7.5-acre center, where people stable their horses and take riding lessons, from the fairgrounds to make way for extra parking.

And if council members had any doubts about how passionately people felt about keeping the equestrian center in town, those doubts may have been eliminated Tuesday night as almost a dozen horse trainers sat through four hours of a brutally technical study session dealing with completely unrelated issues just so they could be there at the very end when the council briefly debated the equestrian center.

At the meeting, Fair Chief Executive Steve Beazley encouraged the local horse community to get involved in trying to find a possible alternative site for an equestrian center, but a few of the council members were very adamant about it staying right where it is.

“I don’t want it moved to the Great Park or San Juan Capistrano because that means the residents of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa don’t have it in their community.

“I would encourage them to rise up and fight this instead of finding alternatives,” Councilwoman Katrina Foley said.

Both horse enthusiasts and other residents strongly oppose the proposal, saying that the equestrian center is one of the few facilities left in the county for horseback riding and that it is an invaluable resource in a community that is already mostly pavement.

“If indeed the answer is here in Costa Mesa, excellent,” Beazley said.

The final decision, however, will be up to the nine-member fair board, which is awaiting the results of a study that will examine the environmental impacts that paving over the equestrian center might have on the surrounding community as well as how the community feels about the idea.

One of the big factors in the decision is that parking is at a premium during the summer months, when the fair is in town, and it would be much more expensive for the fair to construct a multilevel parking structure than it would to turn the equestrian center into an extra lot.

“I think [the equestrian center] is a great asset for Costa Mesa, so I’d like to see it stay if there’s any way,” Councilman Eric Bever said.

“It’s another recreation area that’s irreplaceable. Once it’s gone, it’s gone,” Councilman Gary Monahan said.

The environmental-impact study is expected to be done in the next six months.

Campbell called on

Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) has tapped U.S. Rep. John Campbell to serve on the Joint Economic Committee.

The committee is made up of 10 members from both the Senate and the House of Representatives to study the U.S. economy.

“In recent months, [Campbell] has emerged as a strong national voice for this issue, and I look forward to working together with him to help resolve America’s economic crisis,” Boehner said in a written statement.

Campbell is still recovering after undergoing surgery last week to have a portion of his colon removed, but said in a written statement he was pleased with the appointment.

“I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in order to achieve a sensible solution to our nation’s economic troubles,” Campbell said.

Officials: Cut spending

Supervisor John Moorlach is slated to meet with supervisors from other Southern California counties today in Sacramento to put pressure on the state to solve its ongoing budget crisis.

California wants Orange County to defer an estimated $400 million in funding while the state dangles on the edge of financial collapse. The county has only about $100 million in reserves, Moorlach said.

The situation could force counties to borrow massive amounts of money against payments they are owed by the state, or even into bankruptcy, Moorlach said.

County officials hope to exert pressure on state officials to cut spending.

“They’ve got to kind of wake up. I’d rather you cut my allowance than bust into my piggy bank,” Moorlach said. “If they’re not going to cut spending, they shouldn’t make me their bank.”

Reporter ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com. Reporter BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.