Bell Curve missed with swing against council

I recently read Joe Bell’s “The Bell Curve” wherein Bell takes

swipes at the Newport Beach City Council, suggesting we are all a

bunch of scoundrels (at least the five of us who used the services of

Dave Ellis) because of the misleading phone calls in the Gary

Adams/Richard Taylor race and that we were, in essence, clearly

deficient in respect to the El Toro airport issue (“Coming home to

loose ends,” Thursday).

As the mayor of Newport Beach, I believe it is appropriate to give

you my thoughts. What I have seen with respect to much of Joe Bell’s

work is that many of his statements are colorful; however, his

research skills relative to the facts are deficient.

For example, he states that Ellis was my campaign manager. Bell

never called to ask me if that was accurate. He simply read it in the

newspaper and assumed it was true. In fact, my campaign manager was

my good friend and neighbor Marianne McDaniel. This is easily

verified by reviewing my campaign filings of two years ago with our

city clerk. Ellis was my political consultant who very capably

assisted me with the preparation of some brochures and mailings. It

is not a big issue; however, being factually accurate is a plus when

writing for a newspaper.

Hopefully, I can clear up a few issues that are based in fact and

not conjecture, speculation or emotions. The Newport Beach City

Council did not at any time award any funds directly or indirectly to

Ellis. The council awarded a grant of $3.6 million to the Airport

Working Group, a private organization to work through the El Toro

Airport Issue. Why? Simply because that is what the law requires.

Under California law, more specifically a case entitled Stanson

vs. Mott, a city council or other public agency cannot use public

funds to defeat an initiative, although funds can be used to educate

the electorate as to those issues. This is why we selected the

working group as the grantee of the funds to perform the educational

campaign.

“The Bell Curve” would have you believe that we hand picked Ellis

and that we gave these funds to him. In reality, the group’s board of

directors voted to give these funds to Ellis as a political

consultant to run the El Toro campaign. Two of the individuals on

that board of directors voted to retain Mr. Ellis and give him those

funds were Phil Arst and Rick Taylor, both of whom are officers and

voting directors of the working group. Both Arst and Taylor are also

Greenlight Steering Committee members and have been vocal critics of

Ellis and pretty much anyone who ever used his services.

Notwithstanding that this is a classic example of “the pot calling

the kettle black,” we did not read these facts in Bell’s article.

Bell then goes on to suggest that the letters printed in the

“Forum” section are indicative of how the general public feels about

the misleading telephone call. Once again, if Bell simply did some

research, he would note that most of those letters were written by

the camp that lost the last election, and at least two of those

letters were reprinted by the Daily Pilot. That’s right. One of the

most hateful, mean spirited letters appeared twice in the “Forum”

section.

Interestingly, the Bell Curve does not comment upon the allegation

made by then-candidate Bernie Svalstad. Svalstad asserts that the

Greenlight organization, when interviewing him as a potential

Greenlight candidate, required Svalstad to sign a document agreeing

to vote, if elected as a councilman, only in a manner consistent with

the Greenlight position. Svalstad stated that he declined.

If this is accurate (Mr. Svalstad stated publicly he would take a

lie detector test only if the Daily Pilot was present), some just

might conclude that the misleading telephone call, although

inappropriate, pales in comparison to what would be a violation of

three separate sections of the California Elections Code.

Bell goes on further relative to the airport issue to suggest that

the Newport Beach City Council simply gave up and threw in the towel

on El Toro. Why in the world would we have done that? The Newport

Beach City Council ultimately ceased its action due to a judge’s

ruling, and this occurred shortly before the El Toro issue came to a

vote. Up to that point in time, the lion’s share of the work had been

accomplished, and a vigilant fight had been waged. At no time did the

City Council ever drop its guard. However, other than granting the

funds to the Airport Working Group, there was virtually nothing we

were allowed or permitted to do by law, other than to have lawyers

review the group’s educational material; and I would suggest that

even a cursory amount of research would reflect that to be accurate.

The Newport Beach City Council is made up of seven good people. We

strive to do the best in this city to not only maintain but to

enhance the quality of life of what we all expect. We do a pretty

good job, and if you believe that any of us are the scoundrels Bell

would have you believe we are, come down to a City Council meeting

and watch us, or view us on TV, or better yet, call any of us for a

one on one meeting, because we are available, we are out there and we

serve you well.

It is not my intent to take a swipe at any person or organization.

My goal is to be sure that you, the public, are at least given the

opportunity to hear the facts, not just conjecture or political

rhetoric.

* STEVE BROMBERG is the mayor of Newport Beach.