O.C., Cities Have Spent $80 Million on El Toro

The fight over whether a new Orange County airport will be built at the closed El Toro Marine base has consumed $80 million in public funds since 1994, with more to come as the county prepares for a fourth vote on the issue in March.

Each side has spent roughly the same amount--$40 million.

For airport foes, all of the money has come from property and sales taxes paid by residents in nine south Orange County cities. For airport backers, the bulk of the funds has come from parking and concession-stand sales at Orange County’s existing airport, John Wayne.

The diversion of funds to the airport fight represents a healthy chunk of spending: It’s nearly two years’ worth of Orange County’s share of money from state taxes on cigarettes. It’s equal to the total of first baseman Mo Vaughn’s six-year contract with the Anaheim Angels. “Space tourist” Dennis Tito could have made four trips into orbit.

The level of public spending to influence opinions about El Toro may be a first, said Sheldon Kamieniecki, dean of political science at USC. In other places, residents may be as committed to their causes, but their city governments have few, if any, resources to throw into the fight.

“When there’s so much at stake and you have the resources, this is what’s going to happen,” Kamieniecki said. “You have a real free-for-all going on.”

The South County cities’ fight to stop the airport is the most extensive effort against a public works project in California, said Irvine Mayor Larry Agran, a key promoter of a plan to replace the air base with a county central park.

The question of what will become of El Toro continues to consume Orange County nearly eight years after the base was placed on the federal closure list. The issue was first brought to the ballot in 1994, resulting in narrow approval of an international airport.

Irvine, which borders El Toro to the south and west, has contributed more than half of the public funds spent against the airport plan. The city is promoting a complex of parks, museums, universities and wildlife habitats for the former air base, a project called the Great Park.

Irvine Alone Has Spent $15.6 Million in 2 Years

In attempts to sway public opinion, both sides have enlisted high-priced consultants to design and produce brochures and television ads. Lawyers and lobbyists have been hired to defend their clients’ interests. Technical consultants were placed on the payroll to pore over every statistic, chart and table.

Irvine alone has spent $15.6 million on El Toro in the last two years. Most of the money went toward studies and seeking public input for the city’s attempts to annex the base.

An additional $10.6 million during the same time has come from the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, made up of Irvine, Dana Point, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita.

Irvine and Lake Forest contributed the most to the group effort through their annual budgets, approved each June. This fiscal year, for example, the two cities contributed about $800,000 each. The other cities, also as part of budget approvals, paid about $400,000 each. Aliso Viejo is preparing to become the group’s 10th city member.

Since June 2000, anti-airport forces have sent 22 brochures to 500,000 households countywide and paid for eight full-page newspaper ads.

“If we can stop the airport, it’s money well spent,” Irvine Councilman Greg Smith said last year.

The spending on the pro-airport side has gone mostly toward studies required to measure the project’s effect on the environment.

Pro-airport forces got a much later start in the public relations arena. The first such spending approvals by the county came in March, and the county and Newport Beach approved additional expenses earlier this month. County and city officials said the combined $7.7-million spending splurge was an attempt to make up for only about $1 million spent the year before.

Newport’s money, like that of the South County cities, is from tax dollars. The city has its own vested interest in El Toro: The question of whether to expand John Wayne Airport hinges on whether El Toro’s airfield is converted to commercial use. The base closed in July 1999.

The first mailer and cable-TV ads financed by Newport Beach hit last week. The messages suggest that the proposed park at El Toro would gobble up tax money to build and maintain.

The blitz comes as the South County cities say they will curtail their spending, citing the upcoming circulation of a petition to place an anti-airport initiative on the March 2002 ballot. In fact, they now propose to sue their opponents, claiming Newport Beach violated a state law barring the use of public funds for ballot advocacy.

The proposed measure, which would replace airport zoning with a park, would be the fourth public vote on the base.

“People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones,” said David Ellis, consultant to the Airport Working Group, which distributed Newport’s mailer. “They’ve spent millions and now they want to deny us our 1st Amendment right to discuss how bad this park is. What are they afraid of?”

Airport backers contend that the timing of the public-funding ban is open to interpretation. They have circulated a legal opinion that says messages about the El Toro issue can be distributed as long as the material is factual and doesn’t advocate how to vote on a specific ballot measure.

South Pasadena Has Waged a Similar Battle

El Toro certainly isn’t Southern California’s only running battle over a public works project. But the public relations spending involved dwarfs the others.

Residents of South Pasadena, for instance, know what it’s like to fight a government intent on building. They’ve spent 35 years battling a 6.2-mile extension of the Long Beach Freeway to connect with the Foothill Freeway in Pasadena. In 1999, the city filed a lawsuit against Caltrans to block the project.

South Pasadena’s entire budget for the freeway fight this year: $264,000.

“I think there’s been one professional brochure that I’ve seen, and it was donated by someone who did the work,” said Martha Vanrooijen, transportation manager for the city, where residents have held rummage sales to help fund the fight. “I wish we had money for public relations.”

Like Irvine, South Pasadena started spending public money after residents appealed for more help from deeper government pockets. And as with Irvine, city officials there justified the expenditures as benefiting the public good. But there often are different interpretations of just what the public good is, Kamieniecki said.

In the case of South Pasadena, even its limited investment in the freeway fight strained the budget of a city already strapped for cash and delayed needed street improvements. In Irvine, the city spent $8.6 million on park planning last fiscal year while its prestigious school district was $4 million in the red and failed to get a parcel tax passed.

Even the flush budget of John Wayne Airport can’t sustain unlimited spending on El Toro, airport officials acknowledged earlier this year. If the current drain continues, it could jeopardize the early repayment of $300 million in bonds and result in fee increases for parking, they said.

“Ultimately, it’s a question of what is the public good and which public are you talking about?” Kamieniecki said.

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For a complete package of stories about the airport controversy and an online discussion on The Times’ Web site, go to: https://www.latimes.com/eltoro.

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SPREADING THE WORD

Both sides battling over the fate of the closed El Toro Marine base will have spent $15 million from July 1 through June 30, promoting either an airport or replacing it with a large urban park. Both sides have spent a combined $80 million in public funds on the El Toro issue since 1994. A look at what both sides have spent on public relations alone this fiscal year.

AIRPORT PROPONENTS

ORANGE COUNTY

How much: $3 million

Approved by: Orange County Board of Supervisors; May 1, 2001

For: Direct mail, advertising, public forums, administration, public-relations consulting fees

Managed by: Amies Communication, Irvine

Message: That the airport is safe and workable, with details on safety, noise, air quality, traffic and aviation demand forecasts from environmental documents analyzing the county’s airport plan

Funded by: John Wayne Airport non-aviation revenues

Money could have been used for: Early repayment of John Wayne Airport bond debt, capital improvements to such airport facilities as parking structures and the terminal.

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ORANGE COUNTY

How much: $1 million (of total $5 million in payments through June 30, 2002)

Approved by: Orange County Board of Supervisors; March 6, 2001

For: Direct mail, advertising, public forums, administration, public-relations consulting fees

Managed by: Orange County Regional Airport Authority, made up of 12 pro-airport cities, based in Garden Grove

Message: That the airport is safe, workable and needed, also using the county’s environmental data

Funded by: John Wayne Airport non-aviation revenues

Money could have been used for: Early repayment of John Wayne Airport bond debt, capital improvements to such airport facilities as parking structures and the terminal.

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NEWPORT BEACH

How much: $3.7 million

Approved by: Newport Beach City Council; March 13, 2001

For: Direct mail, cable television, advertising, administration, public-relations consulting fees

Managed by: Split between Airport Working Group and Citizens for Jobs and the Economy, both of Newport Beach; with $150,000 to Orange County Regional Airport Authority, Garden Grove

Message: That a second county airport at El Toro is needed; that it is fair to share the burdens and benefits of air travel in a dual airport system

Funded by: City tax revenues

Money could have been used for: City services such as street maintenance, parks, libraries, and police and fire protection.

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TOTAL PRO-AIRPORT PUBLIC RELATIONS, 2000-01: $7.7 million

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AIRPORT OPPONENTS

IRVINE

How much: $5.1 million

Approved by: Irvine City Council; June and July 2000

For: Direct mail, cable television, advertising, special events, administration, public-relations consulting fees

Managed by: Forde & Mollrich, Newport Beach

Message: That Orange County residents would rather have a Great Park built at El Toro instead of an airport

Funded by: City tax revenues

Money could have been used for: City services such as street maintenance, parks, libraries, and police and fire protection. Irvine also could have loaned money to cash-strapped Irvine Unified School District, which unsuccessfully pushed a $4-million bond issue.

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EL TORO REUSE PLANNING AUTHORITY

Cities of Dana Point, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita.

How much: $2.2 million

Approved by: Respective city councils, June 2000

Managed by: Waters & Faubel, Newport Beach

For: Direct mail, advertising, special events, administration, public-relations consulting fees

Message: That Orange County’s airport plan for El Toro is unsafe, unworkable and unneeded; that the Board of Supervisors is ignoring the will of voters

Funded by: ETRPA budget, which comes from city tax revenues of $397,636 each from Dana Point, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Mission Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita; and $795,273 from Irvine and Lake Forest.

Money could have been used for: Services in individual cities such as street maintenance, parks, libraries, and police and fire protection.

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TOTAL ANTI-AIRPORT PUBLIC RELATIONS, 2000-01: $7.3 million

Source: Various cities, organizations