A tale of two partnerships

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- South County Supervisor Tom Wilson has never

promised, in writing, to withhold sensitive documents from his South

County colleagues, county records show.

In a Sept. 27 letter to Newport Beach attorney Richard Taylor, Deputy

County Counsel Donald Rubin said the county has been “unable to locate

any document” that shows the supervisor has ever made such a promise in

writing.

Taylor has questioned Wilson’s integrity in handling his dual role as

a supervisor and a nonvoting member of the El Toro Reuse Planning

Authority, a South County coalition of cities fighting the county’s plan

to build an airport at the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

Taylor, a member of the Airport Working Group that supports converting

the base into an airport, said Rubin’s letter raised grave concerns.

“I think there are serious questions,” Taylor said. “Did Tom Wilson

divulge information?”

Wilson, who represents Newport Coast and much of South County, was on

vacation Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.

But Wilson’s chief of staff, Holly Veale, said the supervisor doesn’t

leak memos, documents or conversations from closed-session county

meetings to other South County leaders.

“Closed session is closed session,” Veale said. “Their integrity is on

the line every day.”

The authority invited Wilson to join its board in April 1997 as an

“ex-officio,” or nonvoting, member to provide “additional insights from a

countywide perspective,” according to a letter sent to Wilson by

then-authority Chairman Richard Dixon.

In an April 29 response, Wilson agreed to join the board and

“participate in a manner which is both appropriate and productive.”

At the time, County Counsel Laurence Watson requested a statement from

the authority, in writing, about the issue. Watson asked for the same

written disclosures that Taylor had requested.

The request probably “fell through the cracks,” said planning

authority spokeswoman Meg Waters.

At the time, the authority was a bare-bones organization that didn’t

have full-time staff members. The group’s public relations firm, Waters

and Faubel, wasn’t hired until later in 1997.

Joel Kuperberg, an attorney the authority contracted with at the time,

did not return calls for comment. Kuperberg works for Rutan and Tucker, a

well-known municipal law firm based in Costa Mesa.

Calls to current authority attorney Terry Dixon were not returned.

“I think Richard’s barking up the wrong tree,” Waters said about

Taylor. Wilson “never shares closed session information.”