BYRON DE ARAKAL -- Between the Lines

A new twist has been added to the El Toro airport battle. The Orange

County Regional Airport Authority -- a 14-city joint powers authority now

led by retired Marine Corp Brig. Gen. Art Bloomer -- has been given a

$5-million bankroll by the county Board of Supervisors to show voters the

other side of the coin in the airport imbroglio.

The group’s reemergence in the El Toro tussle is welcome news in my

book. But 5 million bucks isn’t going to be enough. That’s why I’m hoping

the city councils of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach -- both members -- will

slip the organization a pair of brass knuckles by opening their

respective checkbooks. Here’s why:

The airport authority was a potent and instrumental advocate in the

1994 passage of Measure A -- the countywide ballot initiative that

rezoned the El Toro Marine Corp Air Station for commercial aviation. But

after the 1996 defeat of Measure S -- a proposition backed by

anti-airport warriors seeking the repeal of Measure A -- the group was

benched in favor of the county government’s El Toro Reuse program, led by

Courtney Wierchioch and former county chief executive Jan Mittermeier.

Wierchioch and Mittermeier badly fumbled the county’s El Toro

information campaign in my estimation. I’ve always believed Wierchioch

was well intentioned but inexperienced, and that her hands were tied by

Mittermeier, whom I believe never thought an El Toro airport was a good

idea.

Since then, it hasn’t been a pretty fight. Indeed, it hasn’t been a

fight at all.

For the better part of four years now, the residents of South Orange

County -- corner men for the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, the

anti-airport alter ego of the Orange County Regional Airport Authority --

have orchestrated a masterful back-alley mugging of pro-airport county

supervisors. Often between rounds -- as the county sits bleeding and

slack jawed in its corner -- South County officials have collared and

slapped around the city of Newport Beach and any other feckless fool who

deigns to support a commercial airport where one, in the most practical

terms, already exists.

South County’s drubbing of El Toro airport boosters has been like

watching Darth Vader club baby seals. In any other blood sport, apart

from politics, the mercy rule would have been invoked. But not here. Not

for this issue. That’s because El Toro airport is to South Orange County

what locusts are to a wheat field. And so it is a death battle.

But we shouldn’t hold South County residents and their hit men in low

regard for their brutality. They are, understandably, warring to protect

their coveted quality of life just as those who live beneath the flight

path at John Wayne Airport are throwing punches to protect theirs. The

difference is the South County war machine has been winning because it

has spent more money, has mobilized bigger guns and has conscripted more

bloodthirsty soldiers than their enemies have.

It hasn’t helped that the county has responded to South County’s

assaults by wandering around in a dither as if it had torn its new

petticoat. Or that it spent a miserly $176,000 to peddle the El Toro

airport before voters last year while airport foes flooded the

battlefield with $15 million.

Nevertheless, all this may soon change with the Orange County Regional

Airport Authority’s return to the front lines. But it is going to need

the help of two of its most important members: Newport Beach and Costa

Mesa. The reports are that the Newport Beach City Council is already

noodling on the idea of pumping $4 million into the pro-airport campaign.

The bad news is the Costa Mesa City Council appears to be afraid of

the fight. Councilman Chris Steel -- Costa Mesa’s representative on the

airport group -- is likely to find an unsympathetic response from Mayor

Libby Cowan and Councilwomen Linda Dixon and Karen Robinson should he

float a request for a few bucks to help finance the El Toro battle. All

three are said to be against an airport at El Toro. Councilman Gary

Monahan, I’m guessing, would probably side with Steel.

Steel should nonetheless press the issue, because it would serve as a

platform for testing the pro-airport talking points the airport group

needs to advance as it gears up to campaign against yet another El Toro

Reuse Planning Authority-hatched anti-airport initiative slated for the

March 2002 ballot. The up-or-down vote on El Toro should be welcomed. The

victory of Measure A and the defeat of Measure S are proof of that.

But if the Orange County Regional Airport Authority should hope to

counter El Toro Reuse Planning Authority’s considerable war machine and

win that vote, then it is going to need the foot soldiers and the money

of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa. Let’s see if our twin cities are ready

to rumble instead of run.

* BYRON DE ARAKAL is a writer and communications consultant. He lives

in Costa Mesa. His column runs Wednesdays. Readers may reach him with

news tips and comments via e-mail at [email protected].