2 Sides Pour Money Into Public Relations on Terminal Issue

The long-running war over a new Burbank Airport terminal is turning into a bonanza for two public relations firms hired to carry the legal battle into the court of public opinion.

Sitrick & Co., brought on board by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority last year, has billed $1.2 million so far, airport officials say.

Not to be outdone, the Burbank City Council, which is fighting the new, larger terminal, said it has paid about $1 million for public relations as part of a $6 million contract for legal counsel.

Both sides defend the expenditures, but skeptics say the terminal is still stuck in a stalemate.

“The City Council and airport will both tell you that their public relations efforts have been responsible for winning the hearts and minds of the public,” said Burbank City Councilman Ted McConkey, an outspoken airport critic. “It’s largely nonsense. It’s been responsible for making a lot of public relations people rich.”

Attorney Richard Simon disagrees with that assessment, saying the money spent by Burbank Airport officials for a high-powered public relations firm over the past year has been worth every penny.

Simon--with the firm of McDermott, Will & Emory--has been fighting for more than two decades to build a new and expanded terminal at the airport. He said he became frustrated when the airport’s legal wins were portrayed as defeats.

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“When we saw the authority’s significant court victories being played in the press as defeats, we felt the time had come for a change on our side. We had to level the playing field.”

Despite McConkey’s criticism, other Burbank officials defend expenditures on public relations.

In 1995, the council made the decision to hire Peter Kirsch from the Washington D.C.-based law firm of Cutler & Stanfield. About a year later, Cutler & Stanfield brought in public relations firm Winner & Associates of Encino, run by Chuck Winner.

Since then, city officials say, they have paid out about $1 million for public relations, out of more than $6 million spent on their ongoing effort to block construction of a new, 19-gate terminal unless mandatory noise restrictions are placed on commercial airliners.

Winner wouldn’t comment on his firm’s role, but Kirsch said it is necessary to fight the expansion on both the legal and public relations fronts.

“The city’s objective is to have growth limits at the airport,” said Kirsch, special counsel for Burbank on airport issues. “We hope to achieve that goal either in court or through decisions in the political process. In that sense, the legal and communications [efforts] play off each other.”

Until last year, Burbank Airport countered those efforts with two full-time communications experts of its own. But after fighting what officials said was the deluge of press releases, policy memos and mailers by Burbank, reinforcements were needed.

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Enter Michael S. Sitrick, founder and president of Sitrick & Co. and one of a new breed of “spin meisters,” who has gained a national reputation for helping repair damaged commodities from scarred celebrities to image-battered businesses.

Sitrick, whose reported fee is $400 an hour, is the author of “Spin: How to Turn the Power of the Press to Your Advantage.” He says his contribution has been demonstrating the merits of a good working relationship with the press coupled with keeping the message simple.

“One of the problems with technical people is that they give you so much information that it’s hard to figure out what’s important and what’s not,” Sitrick said. “There’s a reason people bring us in and there’s a reason people work with us.

“We understand how to communicate in a way that will get the message across to the public, he added. “We also understand what’s significant.”

In the Burbank Airport fight, one issue has become a Sitrick mantra, a concept that also happens to resonate strongly with the public and press: safety.

Airport officials argued as much at a legislative and community summit convened last Thursday by state Sen. Adam Schiff (D--Burbank). During the session, a representative of the Air Line Pilots Assn. said Burbank could be the scene of a disaster because of the potential for a jet to crash into the terminal, which is too close to the east-west runway to meet modern standards.

Sitrick’s firm has also sought to emphasize that the Burbank Airport Authority cannot solve the airport dispute by itself. Only the federal government, the firm insists, is in the position to grant the mandatory curfews on commercial flights the city has been seeking.

Still, some critics wonder whether both campaigns are achieving the necessary results.

“It would seem to me that both sides are spending a lot of money,” said Jack Ryan, professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication. “But I’m not sure either side has articulated their point as well as they could. I’m confused by it as I think most of the people in the Valley are.”

“Neither side has framed the debate,” added David Silver, a Los Angeles public relations executive. “What happens is when neither side frames the debate properly, it becomes a war of attrition. You have to justify those budgets. What are the results?”

Burbank Vice Mayor Stacey Murphy acknowledged that it’s hard to gauge results from the campaign, though she admits there are compelling arguments for spending the money on more concrete projects.

‘It’s a shame we are spending the money on something that’s not tangible,” said Murphy. “I’d much rather spend it on infrastructure such as parks or street improvements that will benefit the community for years to come.”

“That’s not to say the public-relations effort won’t provide the same long-term benefits to the city,” she added. “But it won’t be as clearly evident.”

Kirsch, however, thinks the communications effort has been successful as evidenced by the growing interest in Burbank Airport on the part of national decision makers including Federal Aviation Administrator Jane Garvey, Rep. Howard Berman (D-Mission Hills) and Rep. James Rogan (R-Glendale). But McConkey remains unconvinced.

“Every time they get a favorable editorial or story in one of the newspapers, they believe the battle is won,” he said. “The courts are the place this is going to be won or lost, not in the newspapers.”