The Arizona congressional delegation, working furiously to avoid a loss of personnel at Tucson's Davis-Monthan Air Force Base under an Air Force restructuring, has reportedly persuaded the Secretary of the Air Force to move upwards of 350 special operations personnel at Clovis to the Tucson base:
KOB-TV has confirmed the U.S. Air Force plans to move personnel from Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis as it restructures (the locations) where highly specialized units are housed within US military bases. Cannon will be impacted by. . . “programmatic basing decisions” for its Special Operations Wings. The Eastern New Mexico base is one of two domestic Air Force bases that house special ops wings, the other being Hurlburt Field in Florida’s panhandle. “Members of the New Mexico Congressional delegation were briefed Friday by the secretary of the Air Force,” said Lt. Col. Becky Heyse of Air Force Special Operations Command.
The New Mexico congressional delegation tried and failed to stop the raid, setting up the possibility that the state could eventually see Cannon shuttered, although the Air Force spokeswoman says a "robust presence for the foreseeable future" is planned for the base. The movement of personnel and their timetable to Davis-Monthan is expected to be formally announced this week.
The Air Force times reported in April:
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base appears poised to trade its stalwart fleet of A-10C “Warthog” attack planes for a new special operations wing.
The move follows years of debate in Washington over the future of the A-10, which the Air Force plans to retire by the end of the decade in favor of more advanced fighter jets. Bringing in a special operations wing would keep jobs at the Tucson installation while taking it in a different direction than the service had planned. . .A service spokesperson said (in April) the Air Force is still “working through the details” of the new organization, which is listed in the service’s fiscal 2024 budget request as the “492nd Power Projection Wing.”
The Arizona coup was outlined in an AZ delegation letter to AF Secretary Frank Kendall without specifically mentioning Cannon, but our congressional delegation confirmed in their letter to the Secretary urging him not approve the move that Tucson was the likely beneficiary.
NOT THE FIRST TIME
Cannon was saved during the heyday of longtime NM Senators Pete Domenici and Jeff Bingaman. Today the state's senior senator is Dem Martin Heinrich who has made no secret that he wants out of the august body and hopes to be elected Governor in 2026.
Meanwhile, freshman Senator Ben Ray Lujan, felled by a stroke but recovered, is beset with rumors that he will not seek reelection in 2026, rumors he has not publicly challenged.
Dem US Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, whose district includes Cannon, is a progressive with an agenda light on national security. Ditto for ABQ Rep. Melanie Stansbury. New US Rep. Gabe Vasquez of the southern district is on the House Armed Services Committee but has no seniority and is also a progressive.
Did these political circumstances encourage Arizona and the Pentagon to strip Cannon? And what happens if ABQ's Kirtland Air Force Base is targeted for downsizing or even closure as happened in the late 90's but was staved off?
The Kirtland Partnership Committee, led by civilians to "protect and grow" KAFB, may want to dust off the rolodex and make some calls. Cutbacks would be a body blow to the ABQ metro as the base's economic impact here is put at over $7 billion annually. It's's also why after the Cannon failure the NM delegation needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror.
(NM hosts four large military bases.)
DELEGATION TAKEDOWN
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| Sen. Heinrich |
One of our Senior Alligators says the delegation's weakness on military matters and the new political reality of elections being dominated by the liberal areas of the Rio Grande corridor may have played into Arizona's hands:
Joe, you reap what you sow. The delegation has moved away from military issues and towards environmental issues. Heinrich got off the Senate Armed Services Committee to get on Appropriations because he thought that delivering pork is the road to Governor. This is also about Leger Fernandez and she shouldn’t evade responsibility. Sen. Luján really tried to represent Cannon when he represented it in the House but in going to the Senate he seems to have forgotten it.
Keep in mind the shift in priorities for the delegation. They are Albuquerque/Santa Fe based progressives that have intentionally given up on the rural parts of the state. Until someone makes them pay the price for this, they will just keep doing it. And you have a Republican Party so inept that it’s highly likely they won't be able to make hay over it.
If you asked the Democratic Party Central Committe or leading Dem legislators if we should even host Air Force bases you would probably have trouble getting a majority to say yes. That’s how little they care.
If you parse the delegation's weak statement in their letter to the Air Force, you see that they knew about this and tried to stop it but failed in the Defense Authorization Act. They likely leaked the story to TV news on a Friday to bury it over the weekend. They knew this was in the works. Why were they not rallying the community against it?
This is why redistricting, representation and seniority in Congress matters.
Finally, what does MLG have to say about the coup of Cannon?
Yep. Now we're blogging, folks.
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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2023
(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2023