Battle of El Toro Heats Up

ORANGE COUNTY, CA-The City of Orange has filed a lawsuit against a group that supports converting the El Toro Marine Base into a commercial airport, ratcheting the debate over the shuttered base’s future up yet another notch.

According to the new lawsuit, the pro-conversion Airport Working Group Political Action Committee spent more money on last November’s Orange City Council election than local law allows. The suit also names some of the PAC’s top members as individual defendants.

The PAC’s own report shows that it spent about 80% of its budget on last fall’s election, mostly to support the campaigns of pro-airport candidates. The city says the group could legally spend no more than 25% of its funds, and is seeking $168,000 from the PAC and some of its contributors.