Funding OKd to Protect Navy Bases

Fearing President Clinton’s push for a new round of military base closures, Ventura County supervisors approved funding Tuesday for two lobbying organizations formed to protect this area’s Navy bases.

The advocacy groups, Regional Defense Partnership--21st Century and the Southwest Defense Alliance, have received a total of $72,000 from local cities within the past year, in addition to the $70,000 allocated in the county budget.

In January, the Clinton administration proposed new rounds of closures for 2001 and 2003, with a goal of cutting overall base operation costs by about 10%.

The White House plans to close additional bases to pay for weapons modernization and a military readiness program, and is expected to ask Congress to pass legislation this year to authorize commissions to oversee the “Base Realignment and Closure” (BRAC) process.

In response to the new threat, the advocacy groups are lobbying federal politicians and trying to raise additional funds to keep the doors open at the Point Mugu Naval Air Station and Port Hueneme Naval Construction Battalion Center. Between the two bases, the Navy is considered the largest employer in Ventura County, with 8,900 civilian and military employees.

“We’re definitely pleased to have the partnership,” Point Mugu spokeswoman Cora Fields said Tuesday. “It’s great to have someone there in our corner to help spread our message that we’re a viable, healthy Navy base, and a continuing presence in Ventura County.”

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During the most recent round of base reorganizations in 1995, Point Mugu was on a list of bases to be “realigned” and effectively closed. But aggressive lobbying efforts by local congressmen and the County Board of Supervisors protected the base from closure.

The Regional Defense Partnership--21st Century, as that lobbying group is known now, was created in the late 1980s when the Department of Defense began selecting bases to close. Then in 1995, when Point Mugu was specifically targeted for closure, the advocacy group assumed the name “BRAC-95.”

Supervisor Frank Schillo serves as co-chairman of the partnership, which includes county business, government and military leaders. Several members of the organization recently returned from a lobbying trip to Washington.

This goal of the trip was “to tell the legislators that we support our bases and we want them to support us,” Schillo said. “That’s our only purpose--to keep these bases open and help these bases prosper. Because when the bases prosper, the county prospers.”

The Southwest Defense Alliance is a multi-state group that promotes military research, development, testing and training in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. It was an outgrowth of a 1993 proposal by retired Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell to look to the Southwest for joint testing and training functions.

As a member of the defense alliance, Supervisor Judy Mikels began meeting with congressional members and Pentagon officials last week to protect bases in Ventura County and throughout the region.

“I think there is finally a recognition that we are not in this alone,” Mikels said. “If testing and training bases suffer in California or any other Southwestern state, the mission as a whole is diminished and we all suffer.”

On Tuesday, supervisors voted to authorize county staff members to manage funding for both the Regional Defense Partnership and the Southwest Defense Alliance. The cities that to date have donated money include Camarillo, Oxnard, Port Hueneme and Thousand Oaks. Schillo said he plans to go to Ventura next to ask for a contribution.

The county’s two local congressmen, Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) and Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), whose district includes portions of eastern Ventura County, oppose base closures. And they have said the way to keep the bases off future lists is by attracting more projects and jobs to the county.

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That is exactly what Navy officials in the county have been doing. In July, the Navy began transferring a squadron of radar planes to Point Mugu from San Diego’s Miramar Naval Air Station. And this summer, a fleet of transport planes will be moved from the Naval Air Reserve Center in Santa Clara in Northern California to Point Mugu.

“It just positions us better for the future,” Fields said. “It’s a good sign. When you get new units, your future looks brighter.”

The Pacific Fleet, an administrative arm of the Navy, now oversees operations at both Point Mugu and Port Hueneme. Point Mugu serves primarily as a missile test site, and Port Hueneme is one of only two Navy construction battalion centers in the nation. The combined economic impact of the two bases is estimated at $1.2 billion annually.