O.C. Supervisors OK $3-Million Deal for El Toro Info Drive

A $3-million public information campaign on Orange County’s plans to build a commercial airport at El Toro was narrowly approved Tuesday by county supervisors.

The spending represents the county’s second burst of funding in the past month for airport-related, public-information efforts. In March, the board approved giving $5 million to the pro-airport Orange County Regional Airport Authority for a public-information campaign on El Toro.

The board’s pro-airport majority awarded Tuesday’s contract to Amies Communication in Irvine. The firm was chosen during a hurried, two-month selection process that drew protests from South County groups.

Supervisors Tom Wilson and Todd Spitzer, the board’s anti-airport members, voted against the contract.

“This is a political campaign hiding behind good government,” Spitzer said.

Anti-airport forces insisted in comments before the board and in a letter Tuesday that the county cannot spend money to promote the airport now that the process is underway to place a fourth El Toro initiative on the March 2002 ballot.

The proposed measure, submitted to the registrar of voters office Tuesday, would replace the airport with a large urban park and nature preserve.

Promoting or opposing the airport “would be illegal and constitute an illegal expenditure of public funds” under state law, wrote L. Allan Songstad Jr., chairman of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, a nine-city coalition opposed to the new airport.

“Pure poppycock,” said attorney Dana Reed, who represents the 12-city pro-airport coalition. “This argument comes from the organization that spent tens of thousands of dollars to write the initiative. It’s totally disingenuous to now say that they’re protecting the taxpayers.”

County Counsel Laurence Watson said the county is well within the law to distribute factual information about the airport plan, which is required under California and federal environmental law, and under federal base-closure guidelines.

But, he said, county attorneys are “looking into” the questions raised by airport foes.

Pro-airport supervisors defended the informational spending. They said Amies Communication, run by a former brother-in-law of pro-airport lobbyist Bruce Nestande, will assist the county in distributing required information on the airport project.

Spitzer, however, worried that the information would be slanted because of the proposal’s gag order, which does not allow consultants to disclose documents to outside groups without the consent of the project manager.

Wilson criticized the selection process as too fast and outside proper procedures. Gary Simon, executive director of the county’s Local Redevelopment Authority for El Toro, said the contract was awarded without soliciting bids--allowed under county procedures--because of a Sept. 25 deadline imposed by the county to complete the required environmental review for the proposed airport.