Chamber poll raises Greenlight’s ire

Noaki Schwartz

NEWPORT BEACH -- The group that drafted the so-called Greenlight

initiative, which will appear on the November ballot, labeled the Chamber

of Commerce’s information-gathering efforts as “dirty campaigning.”

But with another eight months to go before the election, Chamber

president Richard Luehrs insists that the organization is simply trying

to shape its opposition.

The chamber and a committee of other unidentified members commissioned

Research Data Design, a national polling company based in Oregon, to call

600 Newport residents and ask them questions about the measure.

Greenlight members, however, say many of the questions were aimed at

“push polling” residents into voting against the initiative.

Paul Kranhold, a spokesman for the Irvine Co., would not comment on

whether the company was involved in the poll, referring all questions to

the chamber.

Residents who responded to the poll said they were on the phone for about

20 minutes, answering what seemed like an endless list of questions. At

about $21 per person, the poll probably cost about $12,000, according to

representatives at Research Data Design.

Based on this information, Long Beach-based political consultant Jeff

Adler said the calls probably weren’t intended to push poll. Adler

explained that push polling is a technique to coerce masses of people to

vote a certain way by using two or three loaded questions. A legitimate

poll, intended to survey a limited group of 400 to 600 people, have

involve many more questions.

“This doesn’t mean certain people wouldn’t try to twist it to their

advantage and point the finger and say ‘push poll,”’ Adler said.

Still, several respondents said some of the questions were misleading.

“They were loaded questions,” said Barry Allen, a Harbor View Hills

Homeowners Assn. board member, adding that he was told that Greenlight

had a retroactive clause that would require votes on home remodeling,

which isn’t 100% accurate.

Other respondents, including City Manager Homer Bludau, said that most of

questions were legitimate.

“The thing took like 20 minutes,” he said. “The questions seemed

legitimate. They were just trying to get a sense of how people felt about

Greenlight.”

Luehrs said the chamber would release the questions and results of the

poll next week.

The Protect From Traffic and Density initiative proposes to give

residents the final say on major developments after the proposal has gone

through the Planning Commission and City Council. The 9,000 voters who

signed the petition to put the measure on the ballot are hoping it will

slow growth and curb traffic.

A citywide vote would be triggered if the development required a major

General Plan amendment.

The added expense and uncertainty of a political campaign in an already

costly and time-consuming planning process are the reasons the Irvine Co.

cited for pulling its Newport Center development proposal in January.

Luehrs said he is worried that even more proposals will be withdrawn and

halt the city’s growth.