Posted on 11/09/2004 7:47:47 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, aiming to defend California's 62 military bases during a new round of Pentagon base closures beginning next year, appointed an 18-member council of defense consultants, retired military chiefs and business people Tuesday to coordinate the state's base retention effort.
The governor included 11 military and retired military officials in a panel to be co-chaired by Leon Panetta, former chief of staff to President Clinton, and Donna Tuttle, a former Commerce Department official in the Reagan administration.
As the Pentagon's Base Realignment and Closure strategy considers closing up to 100 bases nationally, California will compete with 425 military installations across the nation and other commissions equally determined to keep their bases and the billions of dollars in economic activity they represent.
"As California confronts this new BRAC round it is critical that our local communities, state leaders and congressional delegation maintains a united, coordinated front as we work to keep our military installations intact," Schwarzenegger said in a statement announcing the panel.
Panetta said the new commission will meet late this month or in early December.
"I think our job is to really do everything possible to hopefully maintain those bases, and if in fact, they're closed, to assist these communities in making a successful transition," he said. "Hopefully, California will not take the kind of hit it took in the last BRAC round. We frankly gave more than our share of military bases to that process and it cost us a lot of jobs."
In that round of 91 base closings nationally from 1988 to 1995, California lost 29 military installations, a major factor contributing to economic downturns in several communities across the state. Those closures ranged from March Air Force Base and El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Southern California to Mather Air Force Base and Fort Ord Army Base in Northern California.
The governor said the commission will advise local, state and congressional representatives on base issues, recommend strategies and "develop tactics to strengthen California's competitiveness." Members will also look for opportunities to win new military activities and infrastructure across the next 20 years.
Several California bases are considered at risk by the state's congressional delegation, including El Segundo's Los Angeles Air Force Base, which houses a center that develops satellites, missiles and rockets, and the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Barstow, a maintenance depot. The Monterey Peninsula's Defense Language Institute is also considered a target.
Local efforts are also under way to save bases such as the Naval Air Weapons Station in China Lake, Beale Air Force Base near Marysville and several San Diego-area facilities, including the Marine Corps Recruit Depot. In Solano County, Fairfield officials estimate Travis Air Force Base represents 13,000 jobs and $1.3 billion a year to the local economy.
Schwarzenegger made the avoidance of California base closings a priority in signing several bills this year by state lawmakers. Among them, cities and counties must notify military commanders of local development plans near military bases and below low-altitude aerial training routes.
The bill, by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, nearly died earlier this year because of opposition from local governments and developers, but Schwarzenegger staffers revived it. Kuehl and Schwarzenegger said the bill represented a signal to the Pentagon that California is serious about keeping its growth and land development from interfering with the military's mission. Arizona, Washington, Texas and Florida have passed similar bills, aiming to send the same message to Washington.
Schwarzenegger also signed bills to add $300,000 to the state's Office of Military and Aerospace Support, which coordinates the state's base retention strategy. That brings its budget to $500,000, said Schwarzenegger spokesman Vince Sollitto. The bill also allows the office to seek grants and private funding. More signed legislation aims to reduce construction costs for base housing.
Commissioners will receive no compensation for their work on the panel.
http://www.bakersfield.com/state_wire/story/5062017p-5111911c.html
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Members of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Council on Base Support and Retention:
- Co-Chair Leon Panetta of Monterey, co-director of the Leon and Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Affairs, Monterey, former U.S. representative and former chief of staff to President Clinton.
- Co-Chair Donna Tuttle of Los Angeles, chairman and co-owner of Elmore Tuttle Sports Group, and Commerce Department official in the Reagan administration.
- Army Maj. Gen. Edward L. Andrews of Petaluma, consultant to defense contractors.
- Air Force Maj. Gen. Alice Astafan of Carmichael, chief executive officer of the Federal Technology Center.
- Phillip Coyle of Los Angeles, defense consultant and senior adviser to the president of the Center for Defense Information.
- Robert Grady of San Francisco, partner and managing director for The Carlyle Group.
- Marine Gen. Richard Hearney of Ukiah, 35-year corps veteran and former assistant commandant of the corps.
- Vice Adm. Peter M. Hekman, Jr. of San Diego, technology consultant and 40-year veteran of U.S. Navy.
- Army Maj. Gen. Daniel C. Helix of Concord, 41-year veteran.
- Marine Gen. Joseph Hoar of Del Mar, consultant to American companies doing business in the Middle East and Africa and 37-year veteran.
- Elizabeth Ann Inadomi of San Francisco, public policy attorney with background in Congress and NASA.
- Army Maj. Gen. William Jefferds of Folsom, most recently special adviser in the California Office of Military Support and previously director of the state Department of General Services.
- Adm. Henry H. Mauz, Jr. of Pebble Beach, president of the Naval Postgraduate School Foundation.
- Marine Maj. Gen. J. Michael Myatt of San Francisco, president and chief operating officer of the Marines' Memorial Association.
- Roger "Ted" Rains of Camarillo, volunteer member of the Board of Directors of the Regional Defense Partnership-21.
- Andrea Seastrand of Grover Beach, former U.S. representative and executive director of the California Space Authority.
- Marine Maj. Gen. Orlo Keith "O.K." Steele of Grass Valley, consultant for security and military projects.
- Adm. John Weaver of Manhattan Beach, retired, past chairman of Naval Institute Foundation.
Trying to get back in Maria's good graces?
Tiresome, in my opinion. I guess you can't blame a governor for trying to help his state by hook or by crook. But the guiding criterion should be military need, not political expediency or who has the most political clout.
Which bases are needed and which are not? It's generally agreed that there is an excess.
I irony is the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, which had recently gone through a very expensive upgrade and was NEEDED, was decommission by Clinton DESPITE the best efforts of the military to keep it open.
Somebody help me out, please. Why would a state office receive grants and private funding?
It's lobbying money to get fedgov to spend its money here.
but appointing him????????!!!?!?!?!?!?!?
All bases in red areas of California are safe, those in blue areas are not :o)
By who??? A bunch of politicians in cahoots with greedy developers who are always ready to jeopardize national security in order to make a fast buck.
You would be surprised at some military installations that have continued to exist far beyond any military value whatsoever, kept alive by politicians.
>>It's lobbying money to get fedgov to spend its money here.
Is that a usual practice? To me, it seems to create more conflict of interest.
Since when has that been a constraint where profit by political influence is involved?
Sixty two military bases and not one of them where a base is needed most - guarding the U.S. Mexico border.
I don't think any Border Patrol facilities are being axed.
You mean the ones that are already 50 + miles inside the U.S. border? Why should they close those? (sarcasm).
I'm talking about a military base being needed on the border. I'm was not talking about border patrol facilities.
We don't need any "military" bases on the border.
Yes, we do! But if you have a problem with that, let's call them training facilities where our troops can practice their skills preventing insurgent border crossing.
Strange, I haven't seen where a single member of the joint chiefs thinks it's necessary given the militarys mission. I guess I'll have to default to their opinion.
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