U.S. ARMED FORCES
Senator concerned politics played role in base closings; Pentagon denies any outside role

By John Byrne | RAW STORY

A Democratic senator has raised questions on whether politics played a role in a Pentagon proposal to close and transfer jobs from U.S. military bases in a report analyzing the net job loss/gains, RAW STORY has learned.

In a carefully worded statement, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) questioned why states that supported President Bush's reelection (red states) had a net job gain of 11,000, while states that opposed Bush (blue states) lost nearly 25,000 positions.

"My hope was that [Base Realignment and Closure] decisions were completely removed from politics but the total numbers do raise some questions," Lautenberg said.

The Pentagon denies politics played any role.

"That's not true," said Pentagon spokesman Glenn Flood. "It's based on the law that Congress passed given us the authority. The internal deliberations of the Pentagon are not based on any outside influences."

Flood cited a structure report, a classified document that is available to senators concerning the process of base realignment, saying it "gives a basis on what forces will be [like] on down the road."

"It's all there," Flood added. "It's a process that has worked four times in the past. In the fifth round, it's patterned on those successful rounds. Our process has been free from outside politics all along so this is no different."

The most notable political losses in red states has largely been considered South Dakota. South Dakota will lose 3,797 jobs, a strange gift to Sen. John Thune (R-SD), who defeated former Democratic leader Sen. Tom Daschle last year.

The heaviest hemorrhaging of service jobs—8,586—are in Connecticut, home of Democratic Sens. Joe Lieberman and Chris Dodd.

The largest gains are in blue-state Maryland, with 9,293; the second-largest are in President Bush's home state of Texas, which will see a net increase of 6,150.

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Base Closing Job Loss/Gain for Red and Blue States

Lautenberg provided the following chart with his release.

Corrections: This article originally identified Lincoln Chafee as a Senator from Connecticut; he is a Senator from Rhode Island. It misstated the largest number of job gains, which are in Maryland, not Texas.

Article originally published May 20, 2005.