Editorial:

A nonprofit foundation created by six members of the Orange County Fair & Event Center’s board of directors is on the brink of collapse.

Four of the directors — who created the foundation to purchase the Orange County Fairgrounds — have resigned.

They quit amid mounting public criticism and suspicion of their intentions, reports of an investigation into alleged conflicts of interest, and, last but not least, a possible open meeting law violation.

Many of the foundation’s critics in Costa Mesa, home to the fairgrounds, will see its demise as a victory in saving the 150-acre jewel from being sold off by the state.

But we urge restraint, as a bitter irony underscores this story. Its demise could undermine the community’s chances of keeping the fairgrounds under local control should the state go through with the sale, a highly likely prospect.

Locals were correct to question the foundation’s transparency and cast a jaundiced eye on its lobbying in Sacramento.

However, its trustees’ stated intentions of purchasing the fairgrounds to preserve it as a fair — on the model of the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in Pomona — may well have been a noble one.

This point was noted by David Ellis, the foundation’s much vilified vice chairman, in his resignation letter.

As he alluded, the foundation started out with a base of communal support.

Yet the rumor mill churned out suspicion, hysteria and cynicism, turning the locals against the trustees and poisoning what could have been the fairgrounds’ savior.