COUNTYWIDE : Neither Side Yields on Measure M

Friends and foes of Measure M came out swinging Thursday during the first debate on the controversial transportation sales tax for Orange County, with supporters saying it’s urgently needed to ease the area’s traffic woes and opponents arguing that it would be akin to issuing a blank check to leaders who cannot be trusted.

The measure, which will be decided by voters Nov. 6, proposes a half-cent increase in the county’s sales tax to raise $3.1 billion during the next 20 years for improvements to freeways--in particular the traffic-choked Santa Ana Freeway and the infamous “El Toro Y”--as well as roads and rail lines.

“If you like the projects, you should vote yes on Measure M. If you don’t like the projects, you should vote no,” said Dana Reed, chairman of the Orange County Transportation Commission and a chief backer of the ballot measure. “Everything else is basically extraneous.”

But foes said such simplistic notions belie the real impact of Measure M, which they contend is an obsolete proposal that does nothing to address environmental problems and helps let developers off the hook for funding transportation improvements.

“This is the wrong tax at the wrong time, giving money back to the wrong people,” said Tom Rogers, a South County slow-growth advocate helping lead the Measure M opposition.

At times, the half-hour debate--taped at the studios of public television’s KOCE-TV in Huntington Beach for broadcast Oct. 26--erupted into angry accusations between the four participants, which included Newport Beach Councilwoman Jean H. Watt for the opponents and Reed Royalty, chairman of the group pushing Measure M.

During one juncture, words grew heated as Rogers chastised Reed for interrupting. “You’ll have your turn,” Rogers snapped.

Reed countered later by suggesting that Rogers had misinterpreted recent statements made by transportation officials in newspaper stories about the purchase of land for a new commuter rail line that would be funded in part by Measure M.

“You don’t know how to read, Tom, that’s the problem,” Reed said.

Mostly, however, each side stuck to the familiar bastions of their campaigns, with supporters saying the measure is necessary for the county to avoid freeway gridlock and opponents arguing that it really isn’t needed.

“We’ve got an economic dynamo here in Orange County,” Royalty said. “I can’t think of a better way to strangle the goose that laid the golden egg than to have our transportation system become strangled.”

But opponents said Measure M is not the way.

Watt said the county needs “a new game plan” for solving its transportation problems, something that would cut commuter traffic instead of building new roads and freeways to accommodate even more cars.

Rogers, meanwhile, noted that county residents recently had to absorb an increase in the state gas tax and that they are facing a similar increase in the federal gas tax and are being pummeled at the pump in the wake of the Iraq crisis.

He also suggested that the existing county Transportation Commission, which is composed of elected officials from various cities and the county, needs to be filled with directly elected board members before voters can trust the agency to dole out the money as outlined by Measure M.

Royalty agreed that “nobody likes taxes,” but suggested “the beauty of Measure M is it provides specific benefits. We know exactly what (road and rail projects) we’re getting for the money.”

He also noted that the measure includes the formation of a citizens oversight committee, penalties for misuse of the money and a provision requiring a two-thirds vote of the electorate to change any allocations.

In addition, the measure is vitally needed to provide the county with adequate funds to capture federal and state grants that require matching money, Royalty said. If the measure isn’t passed, Orange County stands to lose $100 million a year in matching funds, he said.

Rogers countered that developer fees collected by the county could be used as matching funds. He also suggested that the laundry list of work to be funded by Measure M had been improperly drawn up out of the public eye, calling them “back-room projects.”

Watt, meanwhile, argued that the oversight committee would be “essentially a rubber stamp for a poor plan.”

Reed maintained that such arguments are a smoke screen.

“All of these extraneous issues opponents bring up, all they do is obfuscate the (real) issue,” he said, adding that the “overwhelming majority” of people in Orange County want to see the various road and rail projects get funding.