Perry, Hutchison at Odds over Pentagon's Base-closure Guidelines

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Two of the state's highest-ranking Republicans are at odds over Pentagon draft guidelines for next year's round of military base closures.

A day after Gov. Rick Perry embraced the guidelines in an announcement near Fort Hood, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison sent a letter to the Pentagon rejecting them and asking for changes she thinks will help Texas bases stay open, the San Antonio Express-News reported Saturday.

Lawrence Korb, assistant defense secretary during the Reagan administration, said the conflicting messages could create friction between the leaders.

"Since there's disagreement, (Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld) can say, 'I'm sorry, Senator, but the governor supports me,"' said Korb, a senior fellow with the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank. "... He'll pick the one he likes."

Texas has 17 major military installations whose economic benefit is pegged by state officials at about $43 billion a year. The sector employs about 232,000 uniformed personnel and civilians.

Hutchison's letter Thursday to Undersecretary of Defense Peter Potochney said the guidelines, to be used by the 2005 Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission to close installations, need two changes before they are completed in March. She argued they should scrutinize overseas installations and determine how eliminating U.S. bases would affect homeland security.

"Whenever there's a difference of opinion among the leaders,contrasted Perry's upbeat acceptance of the guidelines a day earlier before a supportive crowd of Killeen-area business, civic and government leaders.

Hutchison argued that overseas installations should be looked at, and homeland security should be considered.

She said the guidelines, to be used by the 2005 Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, or BRAC, to close installations, need two changes before they are completed in March.

She argued they should scrutinize overseas installations and determine how eliminating U.S. bases would affect homeland security.

"Our nation is not dealing with the same threats as we were in 1995 and therefore we must develop new strategies to ensure the military does not close a base, only to later realize its costly mistake," Hutchison wrote. "It would be unwise to close or realign domestic bases that may be needed for troops returning from outdated facilities abroad."

Perry expressed no such concerns in his appearance in Killeen and gave no advance notice of his announcement to Hutchison or Republican John Cornyn, the state's other senator.

His three-page letter to Rumsfeld welcomed the draft criteria and talked up "the aggressive initiatives Texas is undertaking to enhance the state's relationship with our military installations."

Perry spokesman Robert Black said the governor's decision was made on behalf of the state.

"The governor's had the BRAC criteria for more than a month and did not hear any concerns expressed by Sen. Hutchison," Black said.

Cornyn spokesman Don Stewart said Cornyn doesn't disagree with Hutchison's call for changes in the guidelines, but said the senator would reserve public remarks until the official comment period is over.

A former member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Hutchison has forged a bipartisan relationship with Texas lawmakers on military issues and sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee and its subcommittees on defense and military construction.

Cornyn, elected in 2002, sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee and a panel that oversees the base closure process.

Retired Army Col. Ralph C. Gauer, who stood with the governor at Wednesday's announcement, said he wasn't aware Perry had not contacted Cornyn or Hutchison.

Although he didn't criticize Perry, Gauer said Texas needs a cooperative relationship for the 2005 round of base closures.

"It's important that everybody from the individual municipality up through the federal government work good together, but let's leave it at that," said Gauer, vice chairman of the Texas Military Preparedness Commission, which is under Perry's control.

San Antonio Mayor Ed Garza said that at this point in the BRAC process "certainly we want to be on the same page, from the federal level down to the local level."

I am now convinced that Hutchison will challenge Perry in the Republican primary in 2006 for governor. I believe that Lt. Governor Dewhurst will run for Hutchison's Senate seat.

I think Perry has erred in opposing the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Steven Wayne Smith in the upcoming March 9 primary. Perry will need strong support from the same kind of primary voters who support Smith in 2006. Hutchison will lock-up the "wine-and-cheese", "country-club," and "chamber-of-commerce" type Republicans. A recent poll actually shows Hutchison leading Perry in a primary.

The article says nothing about military installations in other states.

According to the latest Texas Poll (December 2003), Texas Republicans are evenly divided when asked whether they would give the governor another term or replace him with K.B. Hutchison, the survey said. According to the poll, 45 percent of registered Republicans favor Hutchison and 41 percent opt for Perry. The poll said that Perry had a large lead if it were Comptroller Carole Strayhorn, who opposes him in the primary, instead of Hutchison.

I have an email on my computer now from K B Hutchison that it took her office six month to answer. The answer i got was half @ssed not to the point and down rite dumb.I wish K Baily would get out of government service all together.She might have a lot going for her but i don't see it.
Should she run for Governor against Perry i know of two votes she wont get.I will vote to keep her in the senate but not as governor.

If you are disgruntled with the constituent service of K.B. Hutchison, why would you support her reelection? She also favors abortion "rights." I understand that the best constitutent service of all time was provided by the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-SC. He even sent congratulatory notes to brides in SC about to be married!

Look around there is not a democrat in the whole world i would vote for.If K Baily runs for the senate there is not a republican in texas that would face off against her.Therefore she is who i would vote for.

I have an email on my computer now from K B Hutchison that it took her office six month to answer.

I sent her a note in September of 2002 about illegal immigration. I got a note back from her in January of 2004 "thanking me for my concerns." She too is concerned about "Medicare". The date on her letter was April, 2003 . . . the postmark was January, 2004.

My voting for her, for anything, will reflect the same amount of respect and organization.

Is there a list of other states' military complexes?

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I have glanced at the list. By NO MEANS is Texas the only state being looked at for base closures.

In my estimations, the BRAC process is a runaway train. There is NO need to continue closing bases. The mantra that it will save money rings hollow, knowing that sometime (possibly in the very near future) these very same installations will be missed and will have to be REPLACED AT ENORMOUS EXPENSE.

Better to take a page from the Brits: Mothball some of the bases that currently appear to be unneeded and man them with tiny caretaker crews. If they are needed in the future, it is very easy to re-open them. I have seen this done in Englad during Desert Storm I. It is a great concept.

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