Deadline Is Issued on El Toro Ads

Public funds cannot be used to advocate for or against a proposed initiative on the fate of the closed El Toro Marine base once the measure is placed on the March 2002 ballot, according to a legal opinion by County Counsel Laurence M. Watson.

That is expected to happen this summer, after enough valid voter signatures--at least 71,206--are gathered to qualify the measure. The Orange County Central Park and Nature Preserve Initiative would replace the county’s zoning for an airport at the former air base with that of a large park.

South Orange County cities opposed to the airport pledged this month to stop spending public funds on advertisements because of the advocacy ban. Last week, a nine-city coalition sued Newport Beach, which supports the new airport, over a mailer sent countywide suggesting the costs of a new park would trigger a tax increase.

Watson said officials can provide “accurate, fair and impartial” information about a measure’s possible effects even after it is placed on the ballot. But they cannot advocate a vote, even indirectly. A previous court case defined advocacy as the “style, tenor and timing” of a public-paid message.