Military communities claim a victory

By By Buddy Bynum / editor
Jan. 22, 2003
Mississippi's military communities believe they won a victory Tuesday when the state Senate included money for a base closure consultant of their choosing in an education funding bill.
Members of the Mississippi Military Communities Council have been at odds with Gov. Ronnie Musgrove since he fired Washington, D.C., consultant Barry Rhoads in November. The governor quickly hired another consultant, Holly Springs native and Democratic Party operative Wilson Golden, whose firm was reported to have little direct experience in base closure matters.
Lamar McDonald, a Meridian insurance executive, chairman of the Navy Meridian Team and member of the Mississippi Military Communities Council, said retaining Rhoads is essential to helping keep bases such as Naval Air Station Meridian open in a 2005 round of base realignment and closures, known as BRAC.
Decade of work
Rhoads had worked with members of the Mississippi Military Communities Council and the state since 1993 and a new contract was approved just months before Musgrove fired him without any advance notice.
The contract would have paid him and his firm, Rhoads-Weber Shandwick Government Relations, on a schedule leading up to 2005 $240,000 in year one, $300,000 in year two, $360,000 in year three and $264,000 in year four.
McDonald said members of the military communities council felt so strongly about Rhoads that they had decided to pay Rhoads' contract themselves. They solicited the assistance of Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck and Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Gordon, D-Okolona, in earmarking money for Rhoads' continued service.
The Senate version of the bill would channel $283,000 to the council through the Institutions of Higher Learning to retain Rhoads. Funding for Rhoads' contract had been routed through the Musgrove-controlled Mississippi Development Authority.
The House-passed version of the education funding bill does not include such a provision, however, leaving open the possibility that it could be a point of contention when conferees from the two houses meet to reconcile differences.
McDonald said the communities don't want a fight with the governor, who decided to pay Golden's firm Jefferson Governmental Relations  $964,000 over four years, or the MDA.
We've expressed our concerns and at this time they have decided to proceed with their consultant. It is confusing. We feel like the state and the communities are going to be better served with a consultant we've used for 10 years,'' McDonald said.
Key members of the community-based organization that has successfully fought to keep U.S. military bases in Mississippi open cite Rhoads' unblemished record over BRAC rounds in the 1990s.
Turned to Legislature
McDonald said the Mississippi Military Communities Council turned to the Legislature to retain Rhoads because they feared the loss of his experience would damage efforts to protect military bases in the state.
These communities want to retain a powerful person who has worked with them for a number of years and we want to help them,'' Gordon said.
All Mississippi defense facilities survived previous rounds of base closings in 1991, 1993 and 1995. There are nine bases in eight communities in Mississippi, including pilot training facilities at NAS Meridian, Columbus Air Force Base and Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi.
Bases in Mississippi directly and indirectly employ about 36,000 people and have a combined payroll of nearly $1.3 billion.
The Pentagon has said more bases must be closed to free up money for more essential military activities. The four rounds of base closings that have occurred since 1988 led to the shutdown or realignment of 451 installations.
The bill passed by the state Senate gives the military communities council $83,333 for Rhoads' services through the remainder of the fiscal year to June 30. It provides $200,000, through the state College Board, beginning July 1.
State Sen. Videt Carmichael, R-Meridian, supported funding Rhoads' contract through the Institutions of Higher Learning.
MDA spokeswoman Sherry Vance said the agency will follow the progress of the appropriation through the session. We are prepared to provide any input so they (lawmakers) can make the best informed decision for our military communities,'' Vance said.