Coming home to loose ends

I was pleased to learn when I got home from Colorado last week

that we had resolved two aggravating local problems while I was gone:

the assurance of a new cap at John Wayne Airport for the next 10

years and the matter of fraudulent campaigning for the Newport Beach

City Council.

However, it occurs to me that there are some odds and ends that

still need tidying up.

Let’s look at the Newport Beach City Council first.

The cause for optimism appears to be the public announcement by

Councilman Gary Adams that he would introduce a measure to require

campaign phone messages to be cleared through the city clerk’s office

before they are used, thus conjoining him with an earlier proposal of

Councilman John Heffernan’s that would prevent candidates from

misrepresenting their political party affiliations and endorsements.

There’s a considerable risk here that the most important portion

of the Heffernan proposal might get lost in the cheerleading. The

second half of Heffernan’s measure is designed to dig out, eliminate

and -- if necessary -- punish conflicts of interest in the governing

of Newport Beach.

If such an ordinance had been in effect before the last election,

five members of the Newport Beach City Council would have had to

absent themselves from approving a $3.7-million grant of city money

to the Airport Working Group for support of an El Toro airport that

was going to enrich their personal political campaign manager, Dave

Ellis, by $458,000.

If there was any concern among council members other than

Heffernan -- who cast the only negative vote -- about questionable

ethics or the appearance of conflict of interest, it didn’t surface.

Adams’ call for campaign reform and belated rejection of the

well-known tactics of Ellis, who served as his campaign manager in

2002, don’t lay a glove on the conflict of interest issue.

It has been charged that Ellis used the same dishonest tactics

that helped elect Adams in managing the election of our mayor, Steve

Bromberg, two years earlier. There is no question that Ellis’

influence is deeply embedded in Newport Beach politics, or that the

tactics he has used to get there makes this a legitimate matter for

investigation by the district attorney.

At risk is our entire elective process, and no amount of

everybody-does-it can change that fact or the steadily shrinking

turnout of disenchanted voters at our local elections.

The one critical element still missing in this dismal picture is

the rejection of Ellis and his tactics by the other City Council

members who have profited from his services. The longer they wait,

the harder it will be for them to remove their feet from the fire

Ellis started, which is still burning fiercely, if letters on the

Pilot Forum page are an indicator.

These council members will be unable to avoid declaring themselves

when Heffernan’s ordinance comes to a vote in a few weeks. Until

then, Heffernan is keeping a low profile, going over the legal

details of his measure with the city attorney and not hurrying the

process.

“My only interest,” he says, “is getting something done. That’s

why I didn’t make this a campaign issue. I don’t want it to be a

political football. I need allies, so this has to be done carefully.”

Meanwhile, back at the airport, the Federal Aviation

Administration has apparently approved the final plan negotiated to

extend the caps on John Wayne Airport until 2015. Because the FAA

letter is lengthy and detailed, it requires review by lawyers

representing all airport negotiating groups before it is submitted to

a federal judge for approval. That, finally, will be the end of the

line. At least until 2015.

Before I left for Colorado, I met with Newport Beach City Atty.

Bob Burnham and City Manager Homer Bludau to discuss a column I did

on the City Council meeting in which the new airport cap was passed

unanimously and several council members explained from the dais that

there wouldn’t be any more noise -- maybe even less -- for us

civilians on the ground, even though the number of flights would be

appreciably increased. I found that absurd and said so.

Burnham addressed this issue with a long and complex environmental

report that he obviously felt proved the case for less noise. I got

lost in it, but since I respect his professionalism, I’ll concede the

point with one major cavil. His proof is all on paper. The test will

come in my back yard.

But one useful revelation grew out of our lengthy conversation

that started on a mildly hostile note and ended, I would hope, in

mutual respect.

It hit me clearly that we were approaching this issue from very

different places, which made communication difficult because we both

felt our positions strongly.

Burnham and his associates had spent many days and weeks and

months negotiating the cap agreement. Because they regarded it as a

considerable achievement in the public interest, they deeply resented

what they considered unfair criticism. Their view was that, under

exceedingly difficult circumstances, they had pulled off a real coup

for the residents of Newport Beach.

My view -- and one that the Pilot Forum page letters would suggest

is widely shared -- is that the only viable long-term solution to the

steady and continuing expansion of John Wayne Airport was -- and is

-- an airport at El Toro.

The City Council abandoned this solution to begin working on JWA

caps when El Toro was still firmly within reach. Had they kept their

focus and put their cap-negotiating zeal into El Toro, instead, we

might have an airport there instead of a mythical Great Park. From

that place, it’s hard to work up enthusiasm over new caps and more

flights, even if the noise really doesn’t increase.

Meanwhile, passage of the Heffernan conflict of interest measure

would help clear the governmental air in Newport Beach. And while

they ponder their position on this matter and on Dave Ellis, City

Council members might want to check out some back issues of the

Pilot’s letters to the editor.

* JOSEPH N. BELL is a resident of Santa Ana Heights. His column

appears Thursdays.