Supervisors Thank Navy Base Backers

Reveling in Point Mugu’s escape from the base closure list, Ventura County supervisors Wednesday thanked congressional representatives and community activists who helped fight for the county’s naval bases.

Maggie Kildee, chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors, singled out Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), commending his efforts to refute a Pentagon audit that inspired the nation’s base-closure commission to target Point Mugu.

“You were like a bulldog,” Kildee told the congressman. “You got a hold of something and you didn’t let go.”

In addition to Gallegly, the supervisors thanked Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) and Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer for their leadership in lobbying to keep Point Mugu and its 9,000 jobs.

They also expressed gratitude to a countywide task force of defense contractors, business and civil leaders who banded together to work on behalf of the base.

The BRAC ’95 Task Force raised about $290,000, hired a Washington lobbyist and sent delegates to the nation’s capital to make sure that federal officials knew of Point Mugu’s widespread community support.

“In my almost 30 years in Ventura County, I have not seen any issue that has brought the county together like this,” Gallegly said. In the end, he said, Point Mugu was able to stand on its own merits.

After receiving commemorative plaques, representatives of Boxer and Feinstein asked county leaders to join them in urging President Clinton to reject the recommendations to close McClellan Air Force Base, the Long Beach Naval Shipyard and some smaller bases in California.

None of the county leaders picked up on the pleas for help.