2 Supervisors Feud Over Leading Effort to Keep Bases Open

Accusing each other of putting politics ahead of local military issues, Ventura County Supervisors John K. Flynn and Frank Schillo are locked in a feud over who will lead ongoing efforts to keep the area’s Navy bases open.

Flynn resigned Wednesday as chairman of a military task force that has lobbied to protect Point Mugu’s future, charging that Schillo has stymied the group’s efforts to secure money for its operations.

He said Schillo, in a political ploy, has prevented county officials from giving $200,000 to Regional Defense Partnership 21 to stave off local base closures. With funding for the task force dwindling, Flynn said he resigned to attract attention to the group’s problems.

“I think Supervisor Schillo did not support RDP-21,” Flynn said. “I think he felt it was an organization he ought to be in charge of. . . . He doesn’t have enough knowledge of [Navy] issues to take them on.”

Schillo called Flynn’s accusations groundless and said he was flabbergasted by Flynn’s resignation from the task force.

“It’s a very crucial time because right now, the Navy is going through a reorganization,” Schillo said. “We could be downsized and we have to show the importance of our bases. I think he’s copped out by stepping down and using all these excuses. . . . He’s chickening out.”

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Meanwhile, Schillo, who is a member of the military task force, said he expects to become its chairman. For the past several months, Schillo said, he has not gone to task force meetings “because of John’s ego.”

The feuding between Flynn and Schillo comes at a time when the Point Mugu Navy base does not appear in immediate danger of closing.

A U. S. Senate committee’s decision in June to nix another round of base closures means that major cutbacks are unlikely for the next couple of years, political analysts say.

Nonetheless, Navy officials called Flynn’s decision to step down as chairman of the task force a serious blow to the Point Mugu and Port Hueneme Navy bases.

“Supervisor Flynn has been a good representative of the community’s concerns and the role we play as a neighbor,” said Nick Richards, commander of the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Port Hueneme. Richards noted that Flynn has been a major proponent of such programs as a college engineering course held in a Port Hueneme equipment testing lab.

“As a friend, I know this decision did not come easy to him,” Richards said.

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Dan Pinkerton, a retired Navy captain, credited Flynn with spearheading lobbying efforts on behalf of Point Mugu during base closure proceedings several years ago.

“John Flynn has articulated support for the Navy bases and the whole spirit of their importance better than any local official,” he said. “I think he’s frustrated in constantly trying to get the funding it takes to be credible in Washington.”

Flynn said the Economic Development Collaborative, a group of local business and government leaders who formed in 1995 to boost local businesses with about $2.5 million in federal grants, has not set aside any money for the military task force to assist defense contractors.

The lack of support comes as the group is running out of money, Flynn said. It includes about 35 local contractors, politicians and Navy officials who have fought the threat of base closures by hiring Washington lobbyists and through other activities.

But the state Legislature recently killed a bill that would have given such booster organizations $50,000 for the next year, Flynn said. The task force has a reserve of only $70,000 this year.

Much of the conflict between Schillo and Flynn springs from their differing approaches to dealing with military downsizing, said Bob Cooper, chairman of the EDC.

Cooper said Flynn has focused on keeping bases open by lobbying federal lawmakers to expand the use of Ventura County’s sites. Such efforts played a part in Point Mugu’s recent success in luring a squadron of E2 radar planes from Miramar Naval Air Station near San Diego.

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According to Cooper, Schillo and the EDC have focused on weaning defense contractors off federal dollars by helping them develop new products for the private market. The federally funded EDC is prohibited from spending money on lobbyists, he added.

“The key that John doesn’t seem to appreciate is that [the EDC] always pointed to defense contractors finding new markets, technology, work force development,” Cooper said. “Nowhere does it state that we’re supposed to help the bases stay alive. John’s strategy is heavily oriented to lobbying. That isn’t the strategy of the EDC.”

Flynn said he is aware of the restrictions that come with the federal money. The task force planned to use $200,000 from the EDC not on lobbying, but on a “technology transfer” program aimed at letting local high-tech companies use Navy labs, he said. That plan collapsed when the EDC did not come up with the money, he said.

Point Mugu lies within Schillo’s supervisorial district, but both supervisors acknowledged Navy base issues are important to their constituents.

“Point Mugu is in my district and I have a keen interest in it,” said Schillo, who vehemently rebutted Flynn’s charge that he is trying to dominate local military issues.

Flynn vowed to stay closely involved in military issues, despite his resignation from the task force.

“Most of the [local defense] workers live here in Oxnard and Camarillo,” he said. “I have workers calling me and saying, ‘Hey, look out for us.’ It should be a cooperative effort.”