Countywide : Anti-Airport Group Assails Use of Brochures

A grass-roots organization trying to defeat a ballot measure that would replace the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station with a commercial airport is accusing backers of the measure, including eight cities, of violating the Political Reform Act.

Taxpayers for Responsible Planning, which opposes the airport, said it has lodged a complaint with the Orange County district attorney against the Orange County Regional Airport Authority, the El Toro Initiative Committee and its treasurer, Dana W. Reed, and the cities of Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Garden Grove, Los Alamitos, Newport Beach, Seal Beach, Stanton and Villa Park.

The group is complaining that the airport authority published a brochure favoring the proposed airport at El Toro, which backers of Measure A are distributing as campaign literature.

The group contends that because the airport authority received contributions of $1,000 or more from the cities listed in the complaint, it has become a pro-Measure A campaign committee and thus is required to file campaign reports.

“They should have filed a statement of organization and periodic campaign reports. They haven’t done so, and we believe this violates the Political Reform Act,” the group’s spokesman, Jeffrey Adler, said in a prepared statement.

Garden Grove Councilman Mark Leyes, chairman of the airport authority, denied the allegations, contending that the authority’s interest in building an airport at El Toro predated the initiative efforts and is entirely separate from any political campaign.

“We have studied the issue of airport capacity in Orange County and agreed with other reputable organizations that John Wayne Airport is incapable of meeting future demand,” he said.

“We are not using public resources to promote the initiative,” he said, adding that any brochures that Measure A backers have used in their campaign were purchased from the airport authority.