Supervisors Reelect Smith as Chairman

County supervisors Tuesday closed ranks around the proposed airport at El Toro and elected two airport supporters as board officers, passing over one of the board’s airport critics.

Supervisor Tom Wilson, who was vice chairman, expressed disappointment after Supervisor Charles V. Smith won a second consecutive term as chairman, and Jim Silva, part of a 3-2 majority favoring the airport, was elected vice chair.

“I can see outside forces at work here,” Wilson said. “I can see the pro-airport machine, as I will label it, has spoken and the board majority has snapped-to as directed.”

Surprisingly, Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who is opposed to an airport at El Toro, not only seconded a motion to reelect Smith but also voted for Silva.

“I respect Tom, and you have to remember that last year I nominated him for chairman,” Spitzer said after the meeting. “But Tom and I knew it was a fait accompli that he would be passed over on the chair and passed over on the vice chair.”

Spitzer and Wilson expressed frustration that the airport has clouded most other issues that have come before the board, including Tuesday’s election of officers.

“I’m constantly reminding the board that we have a huge budget that has nothing to do with El Toro and the board must provide leadership,” Spitzer said.

Smith’s consecutive term is rare and shows how far the board’s majority will go to guarantee that an airport gets built.

Darlene Bloom, board clerk, said she has never heard of a supervisor holding consecutive terms as chairman.

The chairman has only one vote on the five-member board but is in charge of overseeing its weekly agenda. This year, that agenda will include a countywide vote on Measure F, the anti-airport initiative on the March primary ballot, and several key board votes on El Toro, including approval of the environmental impact report.

After the meeting, Silva said that he has heard from “a lot of people” in Wilson’s 5th District who are unhappy with Wilson’s anti-airport stance and wanted Smith as chairman and Silva as vice chair.

Though Wilson represents much of south Orange County--where the loudest anti-airport critics live--his district also includes Newport Beach, where residents enthusiastically support an airport at El Toro.

“I like Tom. I respect him,” Silva said. “But I do feel there are a lot of people in his district who are unhappy with his position.”

Wilson could not be reached for a response to Silva’s statement.

The chairman post does have political weight, Silva said, especially when corresponding with agencies outside the county, such as aviation agencies in Washington.

“It’s significant with correspondence to the federal government on the airport,” Silva said. “If the chair writes a letter to the government, for example, that letter carries the weight of the chairmanship’s letterhead.”