Editorial

The California Assn. of Realtors: $12,500. The Building Industry

Assn.: $9,500. Pacific Mutual Insurance Co.: $10,000. Taylor Woodrow

Homes: $5,000.

The list of those who who are lining up to hand over cash to the

Measure T campaign -- the counter measure to the anti-growth Greenlight

initiative -- reads like a who’s who of developers and their supporters.

And we can only conclude one thing from this news. The opponents of

Greenlight just don’t “get it.�

They just don’t understand or have underestimated the underlying

current of hostility that has formed in Newport Beach toward

out-of-control growth and traffic.

They seemingly have failed to see the hostility ordinary residents

have shown toward developers, their supporters and a City Council that

many believe has given the rubber stamp to more homes, more hotels, more

cars.

Whether or not the proponents of Measure S -- also known as the

Greenlight initiative -- have a valid argument is debatable. In fact, we

have serious doubts about the measure and the wreckage it could cause to

local government.

But if the anti-growth crowd was looking to fuel their

stop-development campaign, the couldn’t have found a bigger log for the

fire with these recent campaign disclosures.

Even the Dunes resort, whose hotel development has served as a

lightning rod of criticism for Greenlight backers, has pitched in $2,500

to the Measure T campaign.

In contrast, the Greenlight Measure S campaign has raised a mere

$20,000 over three years.

This simple fact provides Measure S backers with a powerful argument.

Their measure, they claim, is a grass-roots movement -- a measure

supported by the heart and soul of the community.

Measure T, they contend, has been bought and sold by the development

forces in town.

Measure S made the ballot with petition signatures gathered by

volunteers.

Measure T used hired help.

And now developers, the very target of Greenlight’s wrath, have

publicly and financially taken sides. It’s a public relations boondoggle.

But it’s not too late.

If the backers of Measure T want to be victorious, if they want to

stop Greenlight from becoming the law of the land, if they want to make

sure that government continues to operate in a representative form in

Newport Beach, they need to stop this charade now.

They need to prove to the people of Newport Beach that their measure

also is backed by the electorate, not development forces.

A first step would be to give back every penny of campaign

contributions to the development community and remove the taint that will

otherwise haunt the race until November.

Then, maybe, they will “get it.�