NEWPORT BEACH -- How did a pro-airport camp comprising primarily
Newport-Mesa groups, in a little more than a year, go from predicting
victory to the losing end of a landslide vote?
That was the nagging question a day after Measure F -- South County's
latest attempt at derailing the county's plans for an international
airport at El Toro -- passed by a 2-to-1 margin.
It was near the end of 1998 when momentum was building for the El Toro
project and Newport Beach was leading the troops into battle.
Incumbent Supervisor Jim Silva had cruised to victory over his South
County-funded challenger -- Huntington Beach's Dave Sullivan. Fifth
District Supervisor Cynthia Coad also won handily, not only preserving
but strengthening the pro-airport majority on the Orange County Board of
Supervisors.
Newport Beach leaders at the time characterized the results of that
election as a "major loss" for South County and assumed the anti-airport
contingent would face an "uphill battle."
Even Clarence Turner, the former Newport mayor considered the city's
airport guru, said confidently at the time, "If we play our cards right,
I think we've won this one."
What happened over the course of 1999 that caused a reversal in momentum
and the resulting change in public opinion?
Insiders say there were inherent flaws working against the pro-airport
group. First, South County produced a well-crafted initiative -- one that
dealt not only with the airport debate but played to the general
anti-government sentiment sweeping through the county.
"I think it was a referendum on the county planning process, and the
question is, where do we go from here and how do we make that change?"
said Peggy Ducey, executive director of the Orange County Regional
Airport Authority.
Secondly, there was a clear lack of leadership, direction and
cohesiveness on the pro-airport front.
"The pro-airport people didn't do a good job of communicating the
benefits of the airport," said political consultant Eileen Padberg. "They
have to go back to the drawing board and come up with a clear, consistent
message of why the airport is a good thing."
Padberg added that momentum was lost when voters were assaulted with
varying concerns from two groups -- the Airport Working Group and the
George Argyros-founded Citizens for Jobs and the Economy. Although three
county supervisors, a large section of Newport-Mesa and some North County
cities support an airport at El Toro, there appears to be an army without
a general.
