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PRO CECIL FIELD: Navy sets us straight
Publication: Florida Times Union
November 3, 2006 -
You've probably seen an avalanche of expensive TV ads, funded by big developers, proudly proclaiming that the Navy doesn't want to return to Cecil Field.That is 100 percent wrong. You're being intentionally misled by the developers and our mayor.
Don't believe that they would do such a thing? Then contact the chief of naval operations (CNO) - the Navy's top admiral - right now.
While you're at it, ask him how he really feels about politicians who are taking his quotes out of context.
One of VoteJacksonville.com's supporters couldn't take the phony ads anymore. So, she called the CNO's personal spokesman, Cmdr. John Kirby, and had the following conversation.
VJsupporter: "Commander Kirby, we have read and heard that the CNO does not want to come back to Cecil Field. Is that true?"
Kirby: "Absolutely, not. The CNO has never uttered those words."
VJ supporter: "In a recent Times-Union article, the reporter quoted the CNO as not wanting to come back."
Kirby: "The CNO's quote by Ron Littlepage was in response to the CNO being asked about Oceana, not Cecil. The CNO has never been asked publicly about Cecil. In fact, the CNO has never been asked if he wanted to come to Cecil."
VJ supporter: "Please sir, go ahead, I want to know your thoughts and what is really going on in the Navy."
Kirby: "One key fact that is lacking is that it is not up to the Navy. It is the responsibility of the office of the Department of Defense Inspector General to see if Cecil meets the requirements. If in fact, it does, and Oceana has failed, which I believe it has, then the law dictates that the Navy will go to Cecil."
VJ supporter: "So just that I know I have the facts straight, the CNO has never said he did not want to bring the jets to Cecil."
Kirby: "Never, the Navy has not, nor can it take a position."
So, if the mayor and his developer ads are hogwash, then why are they fighting so hard against the Navy's return?
Could this all be related to the "undisclosed land deal" that's beginning to surface? What do we know about Mayor John Peyton's family property near Cecil Field?
$250 million (one-quarter billion dollars). That's the estimated value of Peyton's family property if the Navy does not return to Cecil Field and it's zoned for development.
Not nearly as much. That's the estimated value of the mayor's family property if the Navy does return to Cecil Field.
3.8 miles. That's the distance from the mayor's family property to Whitehouse, the runway where A-18s will perform practice landings if the Navy returns.
15 square miles. That's the size of the Peyton's family property, an area bigger than Jacksonville Beach and Orange Park combined.
Zero. That's the number of disclosures provided to voters alerting them of Peyton's family property.
On July 12th, 2005, the mayor's family business, where he previously served as vice president for 10 years, completed the closing of one of the largest developmental pieces of property in Northeast Florida.
Then, just six days later, the BRAC Commission, seemingly out of nowhere, put Oceana on the base closure list and the Navy's return became a viable possibility.
According to a statement released on Wednesday by the mayor's spokesman, "the mayor knew nothing about the family business buying the land when he was supporting the Navy's potential return to Cecil."
So, when did the mayor find out about the property and why did he keep this enormous asset, whose value is dependent upon the Navy's return, a big secret?
There are many questions that remain unanswered, including the timing of his abrupt "flip flop."
U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez summed it best in his column in the Times-Union on Wednesday:
A vote for Cecil Field is a vote for 31,000 new jobs, for preserving Jacksonville as a Navy town.
And, most of all, it's a vote for America's national security.
Vote for the Navy.
Vote "Yes" for Cecil Field.
Ken Underwood is a former Navy pilot and co-founder of VoteJacksonville.com. Dave Van Saun is a former commanding officer of Mayport Naval Station, served as senior staff to the BRAC Commission and is co-founder of VoteJacksonville.com.
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