Wilson Says He’ll Fight Pro-Airport Appointee

Upset at the nomination of an El Toro airport supporter to an influential land-use commission, Supervisor Tom Wilson vowed to fight the appointment of the Newport Beach resident at today’s board meeting.

Placing Tom Naughton on the seven-member Airport Land Use Commission would leave the advisory group with only one member who opposes building an airport at El Toro, Wilson said.

Naughton is president of the Airport Working Group, a Newport Beach-based group that has worked to halt expansion at John Wayne Airport and was active in the fight against Measure F, the El Toro anti-airport ballot initiative that passed overwhelmingly in March.

“I don’t see the benefit of having a rubber-stamp commission,” Wilson said. “It seems like the Board of Supervisors is reducing itself to micro-managing and, in my mind, it’s uncalled-for. But if that’s the game, then I can play it as well.”

Wilson, whose district includes Newport Beach and much of South County, said he prefers giving Charles Zoffer another four-year term.

Zoffer upset the pro-airport board majority when he expressed his dissatisfaction with the El Toro proposal and took it upon himself to write to the Defense Department, suggesting that the Los Alamitos Army airfield be considered instead.

“That’s exceeding the legal use of the commission,” said Board Chairman Chuck Smith, who nominated Naughton. “We have an existing member who is anti-airport and shouldn’t be using the commission to defeat an airport at El Toro.”

Wilson said that Naughton is overtly tied to the pro-El Toro side and that his appointment would leave Denny Harris as the lone commission voice opposed to using the shuttered Marine base as an airport.

The commission is an advisory to supervisors and cities surrounding John Wayne Airport.

It was formed to make recommendations on the orderly development of airports and minimize the public’s exposure to excessive noise and safety hazards.