Supervisors Crank Up El Toro Lobbying in D.C.

Moving to jump-start the stalled El Toro airport plan, the Board of Supervisors approved $744,000 Thursday to pay for lobbyists in the nation’s capital, with a hefty $416,000 bonus if the base is transferred to the county’s hands by year’s end.

The spending marks the first county lobbying contracts for the El Toro project since April. In March, voters passed anti-airport Measure F, which a judge ruled unconstitutional last month.

The three-member board majority pushing the airport project said the advocacy is essential as planning shifts into its final phase. Supervisors are expected in September to approve the final airport project--for a facility handling up to 28.8 million passengers a year--and county officials want the bulk of the 4,700-acre base turned over within 30 days of that approval.

Airport opponents argued that spending so much money on lobbying violates the spirit of Measure F, which was approved by 67.3% of Orange County voters. The measure allowed airport planning only and required two-thirds voter approval before the project could be built.

Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who with Supervisor Tom Wilson opposes the county’s El Toro plans, said the airport issue should be resolved at the local level, not with “caviar and champagne lobbying” by government insiders.

David Ellis, representing pro-airport residents, said the spending won’t touch the amount of money spent by South County cities against the airport last year. Spending records from the cities show $8 million by Irvine and nearly $3 million by the cities’ coalition to fight an El Toro airport.

“It’s a lobbyists’ gravy train that rivals the tobacco industry and Southern California Edison,” said Ellis, who represents the Airport Working Group of Orange County, based in Newport Beach.

The retired base is owned by the U.S. Navy. Much of the lobbying effort has focused on convincing the Navy to turn the land over to the county, which must be done before an airport is built.

Supervisors spent much of the rest of Thursday interviewing four candidates to take over as manager of the El Toro project.

Supervisors have met twice behind closed doors and emerged without reaching a decision.

The candidate given the best chance for majority support Thursday was Gary Simon, former real-estate manager for the El Toro project. Simon, hired in 1997 before the base closed, was highly praised during his two years of work for the county. However, his job was terminated a year ago after he repeatedly clashed with then-County Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier.

Simon has worked since then for URS Greiner, an engineering company working on plans to expand Los Angeles International Airport.