THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 7, 1995 TAG: 9507070343
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long : 106 lines
``Any meddling'' by the Clinton administration to alter the latest recommendations of a military base closing commission ``would be totally destructive'' of a process that has saved taxpayers billions of dollars, Virginia's senior senator warned Thursday.
U.S. Sen. John W. Warner, who helped write the base closing law in the mid-1980s, predicted a free-for-all in Congress over closings if Clinton tries to modify the recommendation to shut down McClellan Air Force Base in California.
The independent panel voted 6-2 last month to close McClellan, where about 11,000 Californians repair and maintain Air Force jets. The Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission said the work could be spread among other facilities across the country.
But California's Democratic senators and Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, a candidate for the GOP nomination to oppose Clinton next year, want the president to fight the closure. California is the nation's most populous state, and its 56 electoral votes are considered vital to Clinton's re-election.
The Pentagon also has voiced concerns about how closing McClellan would affect Air Force readiness. It earlier urged that McClellan and four other Air Force depots be reduced, but remain open.
Under the base closing law, Clinton must accept or reject the commission's recommendations as a group. He faces a July 15 deadline, but before he acts he can ask the panel to reconsider any or all of its proposals.
Defense Secretary William J. Perry has discussed with Clinton a plan to save about half of the McClellan jobs by letting a private operator take over the repair facility. His staff is studying ``the impact on readiness and the impact on efficiency'' of closure, Perry said Thursday.
The Pentagon's final suggestions to Clinton will reflect those concerns only, said Navy Capt. Mike Doubleday, a Perry spokesman. ``Other considerations come into play when our recommendations go over to the White House,'' he acknowledged.
Warner, a Republican, said in an interview that presidential intervention on McClellan would trigger efforts by every senator and congressman representing an area with a targeted base to force a reconsideration of the fate of those facilities.
``The hardships are just as great'' for workers at facilities in other states as for the Californians who face the loss of their jobs if McClellan is shut, Warner said.
This year's recommendations are projected to save about $19.3 billion over the next 20 years. The 1993 commission's realignment is expected to save about $2.3 billion a year over 20 years.
Hampton Roads stands to gain more than 5,000 jobs if the current commission's recommendations are adopted.
But if Clinton or Congress ultimately rejects the list, more than 200 Navy jets slated for transfer to Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach would go to bases in North Carolina and California.
That outcome is unlikely, said Rep. Owen B. Pickett, a Democrat representing Virginia Beach and portions of Norfolk who has led the fight to bring the planes to Oceana. But presidential intervention in the closing process is ``a new ingredient that we've never dealt with before,'' he said.
Pickett said any request by Clinton for changes in the list ``would tend to taint the process with a political flavor. I would certainly wish he wouldn't do that.''
Clinton and former President George Bush accepted recommendations from earlier commissions in 1989, '91 and '93 without requesting changes.
Many of those decisions were controversial, but ``it never got anywhere close to this,'' one 1993 commissioner said Thursday. The possible White House intervention ``appears to be putting politics into a process which is required by law to be nonpolitical,'' said Peter Bowman, a former shipyard executive. ``Therefore it's something to be avoided.''
Paul Taibl, an independent analyst who has followed the current commission's work, voiced similar concerns.
If Clinton intercedes for McClellan, ``it opens up the whole question of how you maintain the integrity of what has been up to now an apolitical base-closing process,'' he said.
Taibl works for Business Executives for National Security, a pro-defense lobby that has pushed for greater efficiency at the Pentagon. ``My best guess is that the commission is not going to change in four days what they've been reviewing for four months,'' he said.
Taibl said industry analysts believe the government could cut about 25 percent of the cost of operating McClellan and other depots by shifting them to private hands. That's substantial, but less than the savings that would come from closing the base.
And a privately run McClellan also might cause Clinton political problems because ``the way private industry cuts costs, is (to) eliminate some jobs or reduce wages and benefits,'' Taibl observed.
In May, another independent commission suggested that the Pentagon shift all of its repair depots to private hands. Unlike the base closing commission, however, that panel had no power to make its recommendations binding.
Currently, about 60 percent of aircraft, ship, vehicle and other maintenance work needed by the military is done in government facilities like the Norfolk Naval Shipyard and the-soon-to-close Norfolk Naval Aviation Depot.
A shift to private management of such facilities could have important implications for Hampton Roads, where private yards already compete with the naval shipyard for some work. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
U.S. Sen. John W. Warner says Clinton should not give California
special preference.
KEYWORDS: BASE CLOSINGS MILITARY BASES by CNB