El Toro Combatants Will Spend $14 Million on PR

Forces grappling over the fate of a commercial airport proposed for the former El Toro Marine base will spend $14 million of public money this fiscal year just to promote their positions--nearly the amount spent in the previous five years combined.

The money is being used by pro- and anti-airport cities and Orange County for various media consultants, lawyers, public-relations companies and lobbyists in Sacramento and Washington.

No other public works project in the county has generated such a lucrative cottage industry of public money for lawyers, lobbyists and spin doctors.

The county, for instance, expects to pay its lead attorney, Michael Gatzke, $1.5 million for the year ending June 30 and has budgeted lobbying expenses of $290,000 for Hill & Knowlton consulting firm and $120,000 for the Higgins, McGovern & Smith firm.

The county also is setting aside $1.3 million this year for advertising and promotion of the airport.

A coalition of eight South County cities opposing the airport is spending $1 million this fiscal year for its lawyer, Rich Jacobs, and $600,000 for its main public relations firm, Waters & Faubel. The coalition, El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, has set aside nearly $3.4 million for advertising and promotion.

Overall, the county and the city of Newport Beach have been the most generous airport boosters, pledging to spend a combined $5.4 million to promote the project this year. The South County cities have set aside $8.6 million for its advocates to fight the airport.

The spending spree comes during the most critical time in planning for what would become the second-largest airport in Southern California. An initiative aimed at halting construction is headed for the March ballot, while the county Board of Supervisors is expected to give final approval for the project in May.

“I don’t care what it costs as long as we stop the airport,” said Irvine Councilman Mike Ward. He and other council members voted last week to add $2.3 million to the city’s own previously approved $3 million budget for its all-out airport fight.

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But that win-at-all-costs attitude worries some in the county who see money flow to the El Toro battle but trickle into public services like housing for the homeless, health care for the poor and an improved county bus system.

“It’s a very strange use of money,” said Jean Forbath, one of the founders of Share Our Selves, an organization providing meals, medical services and low-income housing.

What is ironic, she said, is that the largess to lobbyists and public relations professionals hasn’t managed to budge public opinion on the airport. Annual surveys by UC Irvine over the past three years show that public opinion has been glued at 46% opposed and 42% in favor of the airport.

“It is unconscionable to spend $15 million on changing people’s minds, especially since those people’s minds are already probably pretty set,” Forbath said.

Other housing advocates decried the money being spent on public persuasion over El Toro. Money could instead go toward rehabilitating abandoned homes on the base for the poor, said David Levy of the Orange County Fair Housing Council.

While the county probably won’t get the property for another year or so and won’t have an airport built until 2005 at the earliest, he said, “at least, in the meantime, we might house some people.”

Not using the existing housing on the 4,700-acre base, he said, “doesn’t make any sense.”

The county, which is spending most of its $19-million El Toro budget on planning, overhead, technical reports and other expenses related to the base, has earmarked about $4.6 million for lobbyists, attorneys and public-information efforts. The county funds come from John Wayne Airport revenue, including parking and landing fees.

County officials defend their advocacy spending, saying they are providing necessary information to the public, countering a flurry of lawsuits and maneuvers by airport foes and making sure Washington and Sacramento officials are fully informed.

“Our job is to educate the public, and we’ve spent relatively little compared to [South County cities],” said Supervisor Charles V. Smith, chairman of the county board.

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Last week, Smith noted the spending disparity as a reason to recommend giving an additional $400,000 to the 15-city Orange County Regional Airport Authority.

If supervisors vote later this month to join the group and hand over the money, the funds would triple the authority’s budget for distributing information on the county’s airport plan.

Newport Beach, which bears the brunt of departures at John Wayne Airport, is the only city supporting an El Toro airfield to devote money. It funds the regional airport authority with $150,000, and, in addition, has turned its assistant city manager, Peggy Ducey, into the authority’s executive director, paying her annual $131,500 salary.

On the anti-airport side, a South County coalition has budgeted about $5.3 million this year for its own cadre of lawyers, lobbyists and media consultants. The eight cities pay varying amounts to be members.

Irvine is the top contributor, paying $1.83 million this year. The city also is prepared to use more of its multimillion-dollar budget surplus to fight the airport.

For Irvine and the other cities, which don’t have a separate source of major income as the county has, the money for their battle comes from tax dollars.

Meg Waters, whose firm handles public relations for the coalition, said the $600,000 the firm is getting this year pays for five full-time employees working overtime to stop El Toro from being built.

“With the amount of time we put in, I think it averages to about $1.98 an hour,” she quipped.

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AIRPORT LOBBYING

Local governments will spend about $14 million this fiscal year to influence the public and lawmakers on plans to build a commercial airport at the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. A breakdown of public money spent last year and budgeted this year, along with amounts paid to lobbyists, lawyers and consultants:

PRO-AIRPORT

County of Orange

Total spent in last fiscal year: $10,359,419

Total budgeted this year: 18,938,599

Amount budgeted this year for:

* Lawyers:

Michael Gatzke $1,500,000

Mark Mispagel 200,000

McCutcheon Doyle 750,000

County counsel 400,000

* Lobbying (DC):

Higgins, McGovern & Smith 120,000

Hill & Knowlton 290,000

* Public information: 1,300,000

County of Orange Advocacy Total $4,560,000

*

NEWPORT BEACH

Total amount spent in last fiscal year: $1,144,823

Total amount budgeted this year: 1,023,061

Amount spent this fiscal year for:

*Lobbying:

O.C. Regional Airport Authority $150,000

Orange County Airport Alliance 81,168

Citizens for Jobs & Economy 200,000

Airport Working Group 150,000

*Media/political consultants:

Peggy Ducey 131,500

Barbara Foster 7,000

Newport Beach Advocacy Total $719,668

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ORANGE COUNTY REGIONAL AIRPORT AUTHORITY*

(Cities of Anaheim, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Cypress, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Los Alamitos, Newport Beach, Orange, Placentia, Seal Beach, Stanton, Tustin, Villa Park, Yorba Linda)

Total spent in last fiscal year: $ 2,500

Total budgeted this year: 155,000

Amount budgeted this year for:

*Media/political consultants:

Barbara Foster $ 88,000

Peggy Ducey (paid by Newport Beach)

Other public information 52,000

OCRAA Advocacy Total $140,000

*

COMBINED PRO-AIRPORT TOTAL $5,418,668

*

ANTI-AIRPORT

EL TORO REUSE PLANNING AUTHORITY*

(Cities of Dana Point, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo)

Total spent in last fiscal year: $2,855,800

Total budgeted this year: 6,300,000

Amount budgeted this year for:

*Lawyers:

Rich Jacobs $1,000,000

*Lobbying: Washington

Copeland, Lowery & Jacquez 240,000

Lobbying: Sacramento

George Stephas 36,000

Richard Robinson 24,000

Media/political consultants:

Waters & Faubel 600,000

Advertising/Promotion 3,395,000

Authority’s Advocacy Total $5,295,000

*

IRVINE

Total amount spent in last fiscal year: $3,000,000**

Total amount budgeted this year: $5,130,000

Amount budgeted this year for:

Lawyers/public information: $2,800,000

*Media/political consultants:

Forde & Mollrich 500,000

Irvine Advocacy Total $3,300,000

*

COMBINED ANTI-AIRPORT TOTAL $8,595,000

* To fund ETRPA, Irvine paid $1.83 million; Lake Forest, $1.22 million; Dana Point; Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo, $610,000 each; Laguna Woods, $200,000. Newport Beach funds OCRAA; no other pro-airport cities pay for membership.

** Estimate.

Source: Individual governments ; Researched by JEAN O. PASCO/ Los Angeles Times