Airport Foes Call O.C. Supervisor Turncoat for Vote

Calling into question Orange County Supervisor Tom Wilson’s anti-El Toro airport stance, one of his major supporters has abruptly canceled a Wilson fund-raiser and stopped payment on a campaign check as others demanded he defend himself at a hastily called meeting this weekend.

The surprising turn of events followed a controversial vote Tuesday by Wilson and three pro-airport supervisors that resulted in the county’s retaining a private attorney to represent it on El Toro issues.

Wednesday, the day after Wilson’s vote, political contributor Ronald L. Cedillos withdrew a $500 donation to the supervisor’s campaign and called a halt to a planned fund-raiser. The move was more than symbolic: A recent Cedillos-organized event for Laguna Niguel Councilwoman Patricia C. Bates, an airport opponent running for an Assembly seat, raised $35,000.

“Given your less-than-ardent opposition to the El Toro conversion, I in good conscience cannot financially support your candidacy for supervisor of the 5th District any longer,” Cedillos, a businessman, told Wilson in a letter.

Other South County leaders remained supportive of Wilson, who strongly defended his vote on the private attorney issue.

Wilson described the vote as a procedural matter, not a referendum on the airport, and said critics are wrong to question his loyalty in the fight to stop the airport.

“I am solidly behind the South County, and this one vote should not wipe out all the accomplishments I’ve made to this date,” said Wilson, citing his successful efforts last year to include the airport opponents’ alternative use plan for the El Toro base into the county’s planning process.

Wilson is scheduled to address the concerns Saturday at a private meeting with several anti-airport leaders.

“Without having a chance to sit down with him, the vote speaks for itself, and we’re very disappointed with it,” said Laguna Niguel Councilwoman Mimi Krogius Walters, a key supporter who two weeks ago raised $15,000 in a fund-raiser for Wilson at her home. “The reaction you’re seeing here is South County waking up. We’re not going to let this county process steamroll right over us.”

But critics may have nowhere to go in the June election. Wilson, who has maintained he opposes the airport, faces Newport Beach Councilman John W. Hedges, a fervent supporter of the planned international airport.

Wayne Rayfield, chairman of the anti-airport El Toro Coalition, said other Wilson backers have placed their financial support on hold, but he would not provide names.

Thursday, some airport opponents said they were mulling a write-in candidacy against Wilson in the June election or launching a recall after his expected victory. But others, like Bill Kogerman, executive director of Taxpayers for Responsible Planning, urged caution.

“At this point, I’d like to consider this a family matter,” Kogerman said. “This will be aired in private. Once that catharsis is complete, we’ll know what our position is.”

Other South County leaders expressed similar sentiments, saying they need all the support they can get and don’t want to be unduly hasty in criticizing Wilson.

“I don’t bail on people because of one or two instances,” said Irvine Mayor Christina L. Shea, a leading airport opponent. “I think it’s very important that our side sticks together and keeps our focus. I hope any backlash for Tom on the vote is minimal so that we can move on.”

The issue that has so inflamed anti-airport forces was whether County Counsel Laurence M. Watson violated state law by hiring attorney Michael Gatzke without receiving authorization from the board. Supervisor Todd Spitzer contended that state law requires the board to approve all outside litigation contracts by a four-fifths vote. Watson defended his decision as legal and within board policy. The board, including Wilson, ratified Watson’s action.

Wilson said he cast his vote with Watson after the board’s attorney produced a state deputy attorney general’s opinion backing his legal interpretation.

Spitzer, who with Wilson constitutes the five-member board’s anti-airport minority, was among those most critical of Wilson because he was counting on his colleague’s support. Spitzer said his and Wilson’s offices have been deluged with angry calls.

“I don’t think this is going to blow over,” Spitzer said. “I can say that if Tom Wilson assumes that I remain 100% committed to his reelection, he doesn’t understand the depth of my disappointment.”

Airport opponent Mark P. Petracca, a UCI political science professor, said those angry at Wilson don’t have many realistic options other than withholding financial support.

“Perhaps his calculation was that the anti-airport folks had nowhere else to go, so he could afford to go along to get along,” Petracca said. “Option B is that he just didn’t understand how politically expensive it would be.”

Rayfield of the El Toro Coalition said Wilson’s vote “reinforced the position that maybe [Wilson] is not as solidly against the airport as we thought.”

South County residents believe the county’s conversion process for the base is stacked against them and that staff is making too many decisions without supervisorial oversight, Rayfield said.

“With each one of these actions, this is really beginning to erode my confidence,” said Mission Viejo Mayor Susan Withrow. “He is a diplomat, and he likes to reach a consensus, but let’s face it, this is a war, and we need a Gen. Patton.”

Several months ago, anti-airport organizers met with the soft-spoken Wilson to gauge the passion of his anti-airport convictions. They left convinced that he would back them.

But Tuesday’s vote triggered lingering fears among some airport foes that because Wilson was appointed by Gov. Pete Wilson, who is backed by Republicans who support the airport plan, he might not, in the end, hold the line on El Toro.

In October, a San Diego Superior Court judge ruled that the county did not adequately address the impact an airport would have on the traffic, pollution and noise in neighborhoods surrounding the base. The county appealed the decision, with Gatzke as the lead counsel.

“[Gatzke] is a guy who played very, very hard ball on the challenge to the environmental impact report, and he is very, very good,” said Larry Agran, a former Irvine mayor and head of the anti-airport group Project 99. “Here was an opportunity for Tom Wilson with his vote to see to it that [Gatzke] be dismissed, and he dropped the ball.”

Bates, the Laguna Niguel councilwoman and a friend of Wilson’s, said the supervisor can recapture confidence now that he’s on notice that many constituents are angry about his vote.

“But he needs to do it swiftly,” she said.

Times librarians Sheila A. Kern and Cary Schneider contributed to this report.