Planes or park? Voters let ballots fly

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT-MESA -- Voters will head to the polls today to shape the

direction of what could be built at the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air

Station, elect a handful of judges and choose the Republican nominee for

governor.

At the top of people’s minds, officials say, is the fate of the marine

base. Voters will approve or deny Measure W, which would rezone the base

from aviation to open space.

The initiative is the fourth in the eight years since the Navy

announced Marines were leaving the base.

On Monday, both camps in the heated issue crammed in 11th-hour

preparations, attended final rallies and handed out last batches of

fliers.

Members of the Airport Working Group held a rally in Huntington Beach,

their second in that city in as many days.

“It’s a last-minute flurry,” said Dave Ellis, the group’s spokesman.

“Everybody’s feeling really strong.”

Ellis said the group hand-delivered about 280,000 fliers in Fullerton,

Garden Grove and other cities dotting the map in northern Orange County.

The working group joined No on W, a coalition of private individuals

and the three pro-airport supervisors, in lobbying voters to turn back

the initiative.

However, with significantly less money than their opponents, the two

groups didn’t spend as much as they did working against Measure F, which

passed in a landslide in March 2000.

Supporters of a Great Park also wrapped up their efforts on Monday.

Members of the Committee for Safe and Healthy Communities, the

initiative’s chief backer, lobbied South County voters on Monday to head

to the polls.

Initiative spokesman Leonard Kranser said his T-shirt now needs a good

cleaning.

“I’m going to wash my ‘No Jets’ T-shirt,” Kranser said. “We’ve done

all we can do.”

At final count, the group had raised about $1 million. Among those

donations were $10,000 gifts apiece from two Newport Beach entities.

Resident Patrick Di Carlo contributed on Feb. 22, and Entrepreneurial

Capital Corp. gave its donation on Feb. 26.

Groups fighting the initiative will probably end up spending between

$300,000 and $400,000, Ellis said.

As of Monday afternoon, there was still no word about the “single

generous individual” the working group promised would match every dollar

raised.

The initiative is expected to seal the fate of the airport, if it

passes. But even if it fails, anti-airport groups have another chance to

sink the county’s airport plan.

Voters in Supervisor Cynthia Coad’s district also head to the polls

today. Coad is being opposed by Fullerton Councilman Chris Norby, who has

said he doesn’t support an airport at the base.

A Norby win could tip the scales of the board’s current 3-2 majority

supporting an airport. And Supervisor Jim Silva, who represents Costa

Mesa and Newport Beach, has indicated he would be less willing to support

the airport if the initiative passes.

Newport Beach Councilwoman Norma Glover, who was traveling in

Washington, D.C., on Monday, downplayed a possible Measure W victory. She

said a loss at the polls wouldn’t be catastrophic for a city that has

spent millions to lobby for an airport at the base.

“The City Council of Newport Beach has to concentrate on the John

Wayne [Airport] settlement agreement at this point,” Glover said. “We

need to concentrate that it gets fulfilled.”

The Orange County Board of Supervisors approved extending the

airport’s flight restrictions until 2015 a week ago.

Measure W, since it was unveiled early last year, has shown solid

support in the polling. A recent Los Angeles Times survey shows support

for the initiative at 55% among likely voters. About 60% of respondents

opposed an airport.

“The only poll that matters is the one conducted on election day,”

said Assemblyman John Campbell, whose district includes Newport Beach and

a handful of South County cities.

Campbell, a Measure W supporter, said the vote today won’t end the

county’s 8-year-old civil war over the El Toro base.

“I think probably the answer is no,” Campbell said. “If Measure W

wins, I presume there will be lawsuits. That will drag it out some more,

and who knows where it goes from there.”

Voters will also stamp their ballots for five races to fill countywide

judgeships. Groups working to oust Judge Ronald Kline, who has been

indicted on child pornography and molestation charges, won a legal

victory on Friday.

A court ordered election officials to post the list of 11 write-in

candidates challenging Kline. The challengers include Costa Mesa

Councilwoman Karen Robinson and former Daily Pilot columnist Gay

Sandoval.

* Paul Clinton covers the environment and John Wayne Airport. He may

be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

[email protected] .