RevDisk
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pennsylvania's governor and two U.S. senators sued the Pentagon on Monday to prevent deactivation of a Pennsylvania Air National Guard unit in a bid to save a military base from closure.
In what is being viewed as the first lawsuit of its kind, Gov. Ed Rendell, joined by Pennsylvania's Republican Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum, is invoking the "militia clause" of the U.S. Constitution to prevent de-activation of the national guard's 111th Fighter Wing at the Willow Grove Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base.
The base near Philadelphia is among 837 facilities the Defense Department has earmarked for closure or cutbacks in the first round of domestic base reductions in a decade.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, names Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as a defendant. It claims that federal law prohibits the changing, relocation or withdrawal of a National Guard unit without the approval of the governor of the state in which the unit is located.
The closure of the Willow Grove base would cost 1,232 direct jobs, including more than 1,000 associated with the 111th, which operates A-10 ground attack aircraft and has been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years.
Rendell told the Base Realignment and Closure Commission last week that he would not consent to the deactivation of the fighter wing.
In a statement, he said the 111th must be kept "available, to me as governor, to perform state active duty missions dealing with homeland security, natural disasters and other state missions."
Although Pennsylvania may not need the tank-bombing capabilities of its 15 A-10 "Warthogs," Rendell said the fighter wing has valuable medical, communications and intelligence personnel, trucks, buses and other equipment that could be put to use in a local emergency.
A National Guard spokesman declined to comment directly on the lawsuit, saying it was an issue that "would have to be sorted out by the lawyers."
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Nifty! Hey feds! You can try to pry our A-10's out of our cold dead hands!
Edit : The Warthog. The ultimate protection in homeland security, natural disasters and other state missions!
In what is being viewed as the first lawsuit of its kind, Gov. Ed Rendell, joined by Pennsylvania's Republican Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum, is invoking the "militia clause" of the U.S. Constitution to prevent de-activation of the national guard's 111th Fighter Wing at the Willow Grove Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base.
The base near Philadelphia is among 837 facilities the Defense Department has earmarked for closure or cutbacks in the first round of domestic base reductions in a decade.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, names Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as a defendant. It claims that federal law prohibits the changing, relocation or withdrawal of a National Guard unit without the approval of the governor of the state in which the unit is located.
The closure of the Willow Grove base would cost 1,232 direct jobs, including more than 1,000 associated with the 111th, which operates A-10 ground attack aircraft and has been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years.
Rendell told the Base Realignment and Closure Commission last week that he would not consent to the deactivation of the fighter wing.
In a statement, he said the 111th must be kept "available, to me as governor, to perform state active duty missions dealing with homeland security, natural disasters and other state missions."
Although Pennsylvania may not need the tank-bombing capabilities of its 15 A-10 "Warthogs," Rendell said the fighter wing has valuable medical, communications and intelligence personnel, trucks, buses and other equipment that could be put to use in a local emergency.
A National Guard spokesman declined to comment directly on the lawsuit, saying it was an issue that "would have to be sorted out by the lawyers."
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Nifty! Hey feds! You can try to pry our A-10's out of our cold dead hands!
Edit : The Warthog. The ultimate protection in homeland security, natural disasters and other state missions!