03/13/2008

By GARY D. ROBERTSON  / Associated Press

Touting one of her key accomplishments as lieutenant governor, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue is bragging on television about her efforts to keep the state's military bases open for business.

But a key claim of Perdue's ad — that the federal government threatened to close bases in North Carolina — is misleading. In an interview this week with The Associated Press, Perdue defended the ad but acknowledged that she never feared the federal commission in charge of the 2005 base closing process would shut down one of the state's major military installations.

"I said very clearly that I believed in my soul that as soon as our cases were told, that our bases would be whole," she said.

The television ad, which has aired off and on during the campaign, begins with black-and-white footage of several military bases in North Carolina, including the entrance signs to Fort Bragg in Fayetteville and Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville.

Over those images, a narrator states: "2005. The federal government threatens to close North Carolina military bases, worth $18 billion to our economy. Gov. (Mike) Easley turns to Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue to defend the bases."

Neither Fort Bragg nor Camp Lejeune, two of the military's premier facilities, was on the commission's proposed list for closure. At the time the commission was meeting, state and local officials didn't express a serious concern that either base would be shut down. Military experts said neither outpost was at risk.

"The most recent round of the base closure commission was aimed at eliminating bases that were underutilized or simply superfluous," said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the Lexington Institute, a think tank based in Arlington, Va. "None of the major bases in North Carolina fit that description."

Easley asked Perdue in 2003 to lead North Carolina's lobbying effort before the base closing commission. She and her office lobbied the Pentagon and helped coordinate local efforts to promote the mission of the state's bases. Perdue's efforts were among many put forth by state leaders, including members of North Carolina's congressional delegation.

In the end, the panel wound up recommending that two major commands move to Fort Bragg, and a total of more than 4,000 military and civilian jobs will eventually relocate to Bragg and Camp Lejeune. Perdue claims credit in the ad for the additions, something Jacksonville Mayor Sammy Phillips said she deserves.

"I know that Lt. Gov. Perdue did work hard as far as the BRAC commission was concerned and she acted as a watchdog," Phillips said.

Perdue defends the commercial. The commission process is so uncertain, Perdue said, that no one knew for sure whether the state's bases — even Bragg and Lejeune — were safe until the panel's final report cleared Congress in November 2005. Others have pointed to comments from former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that every base was on the table.

"We did everything that we knew how to do, and at the end of the day we branded North Carolina the most military friendly state in America," Perdue said. "You just keep fighting like the dickens to keep what you have, because you never know what's going to happen."

Perdue's campaign points to the Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia as an example of why North Carolina couldn't let its guard down. The Navy's main jet fighter base on the East Coast, Oceana didn't appear on the commission's list until July 2005, when Pentagon official told the panel that a new base would best serve the Navy's long-term needs.

Only a vigorous lobbying effort by Virginia officials, and a promise to make major changes to limit development in the surrounding community, kept the commission from taking steps to remove the jets from Oceana.

"It could have happened here because, here's the proof: it did happen to a major facility in Virginia," said Perdue's spokesman, David Kochman. "Nobody was 100 percent safe."

But Thompson said there was never any serious consideration give to closing a major North Carolina base. Fort Bragg is home to the Army's special operations command and its airborne infantry. Camp Lejeune is the Marine Corps' main base on the East Coast. He said closing either "would severely impair the operations of the services."

Hugh Overholt, a retired Army major general and a member of Easley's Advisory Commission on Military Affairs, said threats to North Carolina during the base closing process were more about whether units based in the state were going to move out. In all, the Department of Defense projects a net job loss of 422 jobs in North Carolina once all of the panel's recommendations are carried out.

"It's not so much the ground drying up, but the missions coming and going," said Overholt, a longtime Perdue supporter. "I don't know if you can capture all of those in a TV ad."

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Associated Press writer Estes Thompson contributed to this report.