Newport to Hire Firm to Give Wing to Airport Support

After a series of setbacks in the publicity campaign for an airport at El Toro, the city of Newport Beach said it plans to bring on a top-gun public relations firm to try to turn the tide in favor of a new airport.

With polls indicating that Orange County residents have not decided if they want an airport at El Toro and desiring another ballot initiative to help decide the matter, airport boosters see a clear need to shift the debate and convince voters of the benefits.

“One of the things we have not been able to communicate are the economic benefits of having an airport,” said Peggy Ducey, Newport Beach deputy city manager. “We need to look at . . . why an airport is attractive and how it will serve as an economic engine to the region.”

To be sure, Newport Beach has a stake in the airport battle because without an El Toro regional airport there will be pressure to expand John Wayne Airport once the federal limit of 8 million passengers a year expires in 2000.

So this month the city narrowed its choices to the high-profile Los Angeles-based firms of Hill & Knowlton, Fleishman Hillard and Winner/Wagner & Associates.

The city’s expectations are bold. The winning firm must begin a grass-roots campaign to rally support by Aug. 15. It must produce a promotional video and start networking community leaders.

In an unusual move, the bids were submitted to attorney Dana W. Reed, who is an expert on elections law and a former president of the Orange County Transportation Authority.

Airport opponents worry that Reed may play a leading role in crafting a strategy to thwart anti-airport efforts at the ballot box.

“I think it’s pretty interesting that the city of Newport is not using their own attorney but an elections law attorney. That is very unusual,” said Bill Koggerman, head of the anti-airport group Taxpayers for Responsible Planning. “It just raises your eyebrows.”

Reed, whose office is in Los Angeles, said he is simply serving as a courier because he lives in Newport Beach.

Ducey said that rather than have Newport Beach pay for the contract, which could be as much as $1.5 million, she hopes a consortium of pro-airport groups will pitch in.

Some airport supporters question the wisdom of Newport Beach hiring a firm independent of other pro-airport groups such as the Orange County Business Council, Citizens for Jobs and Economy, the Orange County Regional Airport Authority and county airport planners.

“The proponents of the airport need to come together collectively and work on a marketing program,” said an airport booster who asked to remain anonymous. “Letting this contract in Newport Beach to some international firm in Los Angeles is not going to solve the problem.”

While Ducey said she agrees that the pro-airport movement is splintered, she said hiring the firm will only help their cause.

“The county has its own role in this process and it’s important that we also be able to provide our input,” she said.

The city’s decision to hire a public relations firm comes after the county canceled its contract with its own public relations firm, Nelson Communications, in June.

The county’s public relations effort was seen as a failure by many airport boosters who publicly complained that the pro-airport message was not getting out.

From the beginning, officials at Nelson expressed frustration with county officials, saying they were left out of the loop on big developments and their advice was often ignored.

In February, managing partner Larry Tenney told county officials that they did not want to pursue a contract renewal. A new spokesperson was hired by the county.

Airport boosters have suffered some setbacks in the publicity campaign with the release of the non-airport Millennium Plan in March, which proposes to place a park, residential housing and office space, museums and a university at the Marine base.

A Times poll conducted in May found that a large percentage of Orange County voters preferred the Millennium Plan over any of the four airport plans proposed by the county. Though voters still seem equally divided over whether to build an airport at the 4,700-acre base, a majority said they would like another ballot initiative to decide the matter.

The El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, a pro-airport coalition of seven South County cities, has budgeted $1 million for their own publicity campaign to promote the Millennium Plan.

In addition, airport opponents recently hired a veteran political strategist from San Diego to handle the ballot initiative campaign, which they hope to present to voters next year.

Last month, airport boosters tried to obtain legislation to make it nearly impossible for an initiative to be placed on the ballot next year. But that effort was quashed when airport opponents successfully lobbied legislators to drop the idea.