Baldacci implores veterans to help fight base closings

AUGUSTA – Gov. John Baldacci on Tuesday appealed to veterans for help in persuading federal officials to reconsider closings and curtailments of Maine military installations, saying, “We need to attack these base closures on every front.”

Flanked by representatives of a spectrum of veterans organizations representing 148,000 Mainers, Baldacci called upon veterans to write letters and e-mails and attend public sessions on the closings to express their support for the Maine bases.

“Today, just days before this nation celebrates Memorial Day, I am asking every available vet to get behind this effort to let Washington know these bases must stay open,” Baldacci said at a State House news conference.

The administration has cited figures showing that the closing of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, halving the active-duty military at Brunswick Naval Air Station and closing a Defense Finance Accounting Service facility in Limestone would result in a loss of 12,000 direct and indirect Maine jobs and $465 million in economic losses.

Many of the shipyard employees are New Hampshire residents.

Baldacci said national security implications must be taken into account as well as the economic blow the curtailments would bring.

On Friday, Baldacci and New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch, along with both states’ congressional delegations, plan to meet in Washington with Anthony Principi, chairman of the nine-member commission that’s reviewing the Pentagon’s recommended base closures.

Baldacci sharply questioned the process used by the Defense Department in targeting the Maine bases. The Base Realignment and Closure Commission will review the list and submit a final list to President Bush by Sept. 8. Bush and Congress can then accept or reject the list in its entirety.

State officials say the BRAC commission’s time to review documents supporting the curtailments has been cut short, undercutting the states’ ability to challenge the selections.

“This really is not a model process. The flaws have been showing up since the beginning,” said Baldacci. “It is not being done in a fashion that people can be proud of.”

Maj. Gen. John “Bill” Libby, adjutant general of the Maine National Guard, said the base closure process in general has merit, “but is flawed as it applies to Maine.”

Ronald Brodeur, Disabled American Veterans adjutant and Air Force veteran, recalled the plummeting morale among fellow airmen after the former Loring Air Force Base was ordered closed more than a decade ago.

Brodeur said the latest closings will harm efforts to draw young enlistees into the all-volunteer military. “This isn’t going to help us at all,” he said.

Peter Ogden, director of the state Bureau of Veterans Services, said the cutbacks would dampen Maine’s efforts to attract retired veterans as residents. Maine has one of the nation’s highest populations of veterans, he said.