Airport issues take off in campaign

Maybe it’s a campaign ploy, but John Graham, one of 17 candidates to

replace former Rep. Chris Cox, is resurrecting the suggestion of a

commercial airport at Camp Pendleton.

Although Graham may be the first of the candidates to bring

airport issues into the campaign, with the history of the proposed El

Toro airport and the future of John Wayne Airport fresh in voters’

minds, he’s not expected to be the last.

The candidates are vying to represent the 48th Congressional

District, which includes Newport Beach, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Laguna

Niguel, Laguna Hills, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, San Juan Capistrano,

Dana Point, Aliso Viejo and Tustin.

Graham floated the Pendleton airport idea in 2001 but didn’t get a

response from state officials at the time. Some voters, however,

supported the plan, Graham said.

“Most people either don’t care about it or like it, except for the

Marine Corps,” the Democrat said. “After Sept. 11, it was just

impossible to argue for an airport at Camp Pendleton.”

In letter sent Friday to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S.

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, Graham proposed an airport at

Camp Pendleton to serve Orange, San Diego and Riverside counties.

Camp Pendleton aside, other candidates are expecting to get

grilled about airport issues on the campaign trail, and with good

reason.

“Absolutely it’s important to people. It’s an issue that’s

dominated the politics in South Orange County for a decade,” said

Allan Songstad, a Laguna Hills city councilman and the board chairman

of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority.

The planning group vigorously opposed the idea of a commercial

airport at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

With the Marine base sold and plans for the Great Park well

underway, in many minds an El Toro airport is dead, but that doesn’t

mean voters will forget. Songstad said while the planning group’s

board probably won’t take a formal position on the candidates, most

members either already have or will.

Republican candidate Marilyn Brewer, who represented Newport Beach

in the Assembly from 1994 to 2000, said she’s already been asked

about her stance on John Wayne Airport at a meet-and-greet in

Newport. Some residents worry there will be a push to lift caps at

John Wayne.

Airport issues weren’t significant to Chris Cox’s reelection

because he never faced a serious challenge, Songstad said. But Brewer

and state Sen. John Campbell, who are considered the race’s front

runners, both expect airport questions to surface now because they

play on the past and future worries of a large part of the district.

Both Republican candidates said they oppose any expansion of John

Wayne Airport. Campbell and Graham said they opposed the El Toro

airport plan, and Brewer has said she supported “the highest and best

use of that property.”

“It’s a moot point at this point,” she said when asked whether

that’s dodging the issue. “We’ve been through the process, the

decisions have been made and we’re moving forward with the Great

Park.”

She also suggested a Camp Pendleton airport as “an idea whose time

has come.”

While those candidates may have planes on the brain, others said

airport issues won’t get much play in the next few months.

Democratic candidate Steve Young said he thinks getting federal

funding to dredge the Back Bay is a bigger deal now that the El Toro

airport has been grounded.

“I think that every other candidate for office will agree with me

that we need to keep the caps [at John Wayne] where they are,” Young

said. “I don’t really see it as being a campaign issue.”

UC Irvine political scientist Louis DeSipio said the people who

turn out for the special primary will be hard-core voters who

evaluate candidates on a range of criteria, not just one abstract

policy issue such as airport solutions.

The entrance of American Independent Party candidate Jim Gilchrist

into the race makes illegal immigration much more relevant, public

affairs consultant David Ellis said. He expects candidates to give no

definitive answers to airport questions.

“They’ll be asked, but they’ll all appropriately duck the issue,”

he said. “It’s kind of like Social Security -- we know we’ve got to

fix it, but very few have the courage to try.”

But for Graham, his opponents who ignore airport questions do so

at their own risk.

“All candidates should be interested in this,” Graham said. “If

they aren’t, they aren’t paying attention to what’s going on.”

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at

[email protected].

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