The Next Salvo in the Battle Over Base Closures Is Political

Even though the list of recommended military base closings was presented Friday as being free of politics, it quickly had plenty of political ramifications.

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) found himself on the defensive, trying to explain how an Air Force base in his state ended up on the list. After all, in his successful campaign last year to oust then-Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, Thune told voters that his ties to the White House would help safeguard the base, South Dakota’s second-biggest employer.

The list also promised to add to the political headaches of Rep. Rob Simmons (R-Conn.). Already facing a tough race for reelection, he found a submarine base in his district targeted for closure. Military installations often are economic engines for communities, and a lawmaker’s ability to prevent one from closing can become a campaign issue. Within hours of the Pentagon announcement Friday, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee knocked Thune in an e-mail, saying his contention that he would be better positioned than Daschle to protect Ellsworth Air Force Base “turned out to be hollow.”

The Democratic campaign committee also took a shot at Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), the former majority leader, whose home town of Pascagoula would lose its naval station under the Pentagon plan. “Is Lott losing influence in Washington, D.C.?” the committee asked in a written statement.

Brian Nick, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said the Democratic criticism amounted to “unfortunate partisan attacks that demonstrate a lack of understanding of the BRAC process.” He was referring to the Base Realignment and Closure Commission that will review the Pentagon’s plan, which ultimately must be approved by President Bush and Congress.

Defending Thune, Randy Frederick, chairman of the South Dakota Republican Party, accused the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee of trying to use “South Dakota’s potential misfortune for political gain.”

And Susan Irby, a Lott spokeswoman, said the fight to keep open the Pascagoula facility was far from over. “There’s no doubt, it’s a fight,” she said. “But we have fought battles to hold onto our bases before and won. The battle has just begun.”

In Pennsylvania, the state Democratic Party assailed Republican Sen. Rick Santorum for voting last year against a measure to delay another round of closings. The state’s Naval Air Station Willow Grove would lose more than 1,200 jobs under the Pentagon plan, and several other facilities would be closed.

Pennsylvania Republican officials responded with a statement declaring that the base closing commission process should be “off-limits to political smear tactics.”

John Brabender, a Santorum campaign spokesman, added that although the senator had voted to allow the process to proceed, he disputed the Pentagon’s findings.

While base closures could become issues in future campaigns, they will not necessarily cost lawmakers their jobs.

“As long as a member of Congress is seen as fighting to keep something important open and to keep jobs or to convert the abandoned location into something else useful for the community, then voters don’t hold them responsible,” said Jennifer Duffy, managing editor of the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan newsletter that analyzes political races.

The list of proposed closings, hand-delivered to congressional offices Friday, did something that few other issues have done: It brought together often-feuding Republican and Democratic lawmakers, who vowed to fight for their districts.

Simmons of Connecticut, for example, appeared alongside Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) at a news conference, where they said they would fight for the Naval Submarine Base New London. The base employs more than 15,800 people.

Todd Mitchell, a Simmons spokesman, said: “The only way we save the base is if we do work together.... It’s not just about Rob Simmons, even though the base is in our congressional district. The negative effect on the state in general is too big for this to be a partisan issue.”

Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) called the recommendation to target three facilities in her state, including the proposed closing of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, “stunning, devastating, and above all, outrageous.” She and others whose states were targeted for base closings vowed to step up their efforts to prove the value of the facilities to national defense.

“We will make our case on every front, at every turn, point by point by point, with all the resources we can humanly muster,” Snowe said.

Some lawmakers are exploring whether to attach a measure to a spending bill that would stop the closings.

A similar move last year was abandoned after Bush threatened to veto the bill.