Edwards group asks governor to visit facilities
This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press on Tuesday, November
18, 2003.
By ALLISON GATLIN
Valley Press Staff Writer
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CALIFORNIA CITY - Newly inaugurated California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
has been invited to tour the Antelope Valley's defense and aerospace installations.
The invitation, from the Edwards Community Alliance, comes as a part
of a burgeoning statewide effort to preserve California's military installations
and the jobs associated with them from the Pentagon's upcoming Base Realignment
and Closure process.
The alliance, an organization of area communities formed to help support and preserve the activities of Edwards Air Force Base and other military installations in the region, has extended the invitation for a guided tour of Edwards AFB, China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station, Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale and the Mojave Airport.
"I'm optimistic that we're going to get a response, at least from members of the transition team," said Bob Johnstone, a consultant to the alliance from Lancaster-based The Aerospace Office Inc. Johnstone reported on the invitation at the organization's meeting Monday at California City's City Hall.
Congress has mandated another BRAC round in 2005, which figures to reduce domestic base capacity by 20% to 25%. Efforts to influence the selection process already are well under way across the country.
California is gearing up to join the fight.
"To put the proper emphasis on aerospace and defense, a new office in the governor's immediate staff should be formed," Johnstone wrote in the invitation to Schwarzenegger. "In addition, a senior California aerospace and defense coalition should be formed to strengthen and guide economic development policy."
Under previous Base Realignment and Closure legislation, California was hit hard, losing 29 bases - 20% of the total closed nationwide - resulting in an estimated $30 billion economic loss.
Statewide, the Department of Defense provides 260,000 military and civilian jobs. This means an economic impact of $31.3 billion in defense contracts and payroll, according to the state Office of Military Support.
Although California likely will lose more bases in the next round, the state "should have a plan to insure those missions and jobs are transferred to other California bases," Johnstone wrote.
The seeds of the political support to accomplish this already are being sown in the emergence of the Senate Select Committee on Defense and Aerospace and the Assembly Select Committee on National Defense, Technology and Jobs.
Both committees include a strong Antelope Valley presence. State Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, is chairman of the Senate committee, where he is joined by Palmdale Republican state Sen. William J. "Pete" Knight.
The committee had a special hearing in August.
The Assembly committee came about at the request of freshman Antelope Valley legislators Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster, and Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield.
McCarthy has been appointed vice chairman of the committee, and Runner is a member. Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, is chairwoman of the committee.
The Department of Defense will release guidelines for the 2005 BRAC process by Dec. 31, by which time the state should have a consolidated response.
Until now, most of the job of promoting the state's defense and aerospace installations has been the Office of Military Support.
Originally formed as the Office of Military Base Retention and Reuse in 1999, the state agency is tasked with answering the need to aid communities in the aftermath of base closures and prepare for future rounds of base closures.
Led by retired Army Maj. Gen. William Jefferds, the office was created by legislation authored by Knight following devastating base closures in the 1990s.
However, the state's budget crisis has led to a change. The office's parent agency, the California Technology, Trade and Commerce Agency, was not funded for fiscal year 2004 and will be dissolved.
The office has been shifted to the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, where it is functioning on a smaller budget.
"We need to let everyone know up in Sacramento that we need him and we need that position," said Craig Peterson, field representative for Kern County Supervisor John McQuiston.
"I think it's real important Bill Jefferds stays on board," Johnstone
said. "He's very much in tune with what's going on and what we need to
do."
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