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Local, state lawmakers say politics drives tanker delay
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Pensacola News Journal, September 12th, 2008
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Local, state lawmakers say politics drives tanker delay
Pensacola News Journal
Carlton Proctor • cproctor@pnj.com • September 11, 2008
Buzz up! From Pensacola to Mobile, reaction to the Department of Defense's decision Wednesday to put off awarding a multibillion-dollar Air Force tanker contract was angry, blunt and emotional.
The decision further delays the resolution of heated competition between Boeing and Northrop Grumman for a $35 billion contract to replace the Air Force's aging aerial refueling fleet.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said the tanker contract fight had become so politically charged that it needed a "cooling-off period."
"It's regrettable that politics entered into what is so obviously needed for our armed forces," Escambia County Commission Chairman Gene Valentino said.
"The Gulf Coast region has been given another slap in the face. This could have been the single largest economic development jump-start for this region in two decades. ... The whole thing just stinks of politics."
Santa Rosa Commissioner Don Salter blamed politics as usual.
"Every American should be very angry today," Salter said. "Once again, we've let Washington politics dictate the defense of this country and put our military men and women in harm's way."
U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Chumuckla, also was disappointed by the decision.
"This tanker project has been going on for seven years now, and it just appears that Boeing did not have enough time to rebid it," he said. "I still contend Northrop Grumman/EADS has the superior plane, and that ultimately, they will win the contract."
But Miller added: "It's becoming more and more apparent that Boeing's political strength is being used to extend the process."
In Mobile, Commissioner Stephen Nodine, one of the most outspoken proponents of the project, called Boeing's efforts to delay the contract "political terrorism that will set back the tanker program at least three to four years.
"I think it's devastating to our national security and devastating to our war fighters,' Nodine said.
"Secretary Gates did not have guts enough to follow through with the comments he made at Maxwell Air Force Base, where he said that delaying the tanker project would be unacceptable and harmful to America's war fighters. This is pure politics, and politics should have never played into this decision."
Nodine was referring to Gates' talk in April at a meeting at the Alabama base of top Air Force officers. He was questioned about the tanker contract, and Boeing's efforts to delay it.
"All I can say is that I think it would be a real shame if the tanker were to get delayed yet again," Gates said at the time. "We're long past due in terms of getting on with this program."
Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce Vice President Charles Wood said the delay was "obviously disappointing.' But he said: "The aerospace assets that drove EADS and Northrop Grumman to choose the Gulf Coast are still here, and our existing aerospace and defense companies continue to grow.
"Hixardt, Black Box Technologies & Techsoft (recently) landed almost $80 million in contracts combined, and new companies are continuing to look at Pensacola and the rest of the Gulf Coast."
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