State officials declared Monday that Otis Air National Guard Base will not be closed as originally thought, a reversal they said came as a result of legal action last week, but which an independent commission said was made with little fanfare over two weeks ago.
"Otis has a new lease on life," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who had fought the closure of the Cape Cod military installation.
All parties agreed that the base will retain the bulk of its current 500 jobs, although some positions will be moved across state when an 18-plane wing of F-15 fighter jets is relocated to Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield. Barnes is still slated to lose a win of A-10 attack aircraft.
The remaining workers at Otis will fill other Air National Guard support roles.
State and federal officials also agree that the Base Realignment and Closure Commission voted Aug. 26 to close Otis, along with hundreds of other military installations nationwide.
However, Attorney General Tom Reilly and Gov. Mitt Romney's communications director, Eric Fehrnstrom, said Monday that recommendation was changed to a "realignment" in the formal documentation forwarded to President Bush last Thursday.
Attorneys for the governor and attorney general's offices, Reilly and Fehnstrom said, detected the change over the weekend as they analyzed the commission's paperwork.
"They changed the language from 'closure' to 'realignment,' and the bottom line here is rather than being closed, Otis will remain open," Reilly said in an interview with TheAssociated Press.
"The devils is always in the details, and the details came up in our favor this time," the attorney general added.
Fehrnstrom said in a separate interview: "What is apparent is that Otis is staying open and our current Massachusetts Air National Guard is being kept at current levels."
But Robert McCreary, a commission spokesman, said that the status of Otis actually was changed later during the Aug. 26 board session. He did not immediately respond to several requests to cite the passage in the hearing transcript.
The transcript quotes commissioners at several points in the afternoon session talking about and voting to close Otis -- a point McCreary conceded -- but he said the language was later changed to "realignment" without notice of the governor, the state's two U.S. senators, its congressional delegation and the news media covering the closure hearing.
The state also filed a federal lawsuit to block the closure -- but the commission never corrected the state's understanding of the decision, the spokesman said.
"They went back on it," McCreary said, referring to the commissioners. "I can promise you that nothing was changed after the 26th."
Both Fehrnstrom and aides to Kennedy and Reilly subsequently disputed McCreary's explanation, saying conversations they had with the BRAC staff during the week after the commission meeting confirmed their understanding the board had voted to close the base.
Both Reilly and Fehrnstrom noted that the state had filed a lawsuit last week seeking to stay the commission's vote. They argued that Guard units could not be reconfigured without prior approval of a governor, who serves as commander-in-chief of the Guard units.
Last week, a federal judge denied the state's bid for a temporary restraining order, but the case remained active. That same day, the commission submitted its final recommendations to the president.
Reilly said his staff detected similar rewording in orders applying to other states that had sued or threatened to sue the commission, which he said had the effect of undercutting the basis for their lawsuits. He said it was unlikely Massachusetts would proceed with its lawsuit given the commission's change.
"Our goal throughout this was to keep Otis open, and that's happened right now," Reilly said. "In terms of the lawsuit, we'll wait for the president to make his final decision (about whether to accept or change the commission's recommendations), but certainly our first assessment here is we did what we set out to do."
U.S. Rep William Delahunt, D-Mass., who represents Cape Cod, said local leaders will work with the military to come up with new missions for Otis. One logical mission, he said, would be a regional homeland security center. He also noted that the Pentagon's original proposal would have kept 160 members of two Otis communications units on the Cape.
"I think people were so focused on the redeployment of the planes ... they didn't see the larger picture -- that Otis could not close. Not if they were going to retain a significant amount of personnel," he told The Cape Cod Times on Monday.
Fehrnstrom added: "We may not have the status quo, but it looks like a win-win for everyone. Both Otis and Barnes will remain viable facilities -- and Hanscom (Air Force Base) stays open," he added, referring to an earlier BRAC decision.
Fehrnstrom called Hanscom "the 800-lb. gorilla," since its direct and ancillary employment covers 30,000 jobs.
ma police, boston ma police, massachusetts police, massachusetts police, mass state police, mass police, ma, mass, massachusetts, massachusetts, massachutes, massachusetts law, massachusetts polece, police, officer, police officer, cops, police gear, law enforcement, police duty gear, state police, sheriff, law, police supply, police agency directory, police agency, police department, traffic officer, police dept, state trooper, dispatcher, massachusetts county sheriff, massachusetts sheriff, massachusetts department of corrections, ma doc, doc, dept of corrections, police information, civil service, ma civil service, massachusetts crime, police training, police academy, ma police academy, massachusetts officers, masscop, masscops, mpa, bpa, ibpoa, police association, massachusetts police news, massachusetts crime news, mass most wanted, police career information, police patrol, police administration, police books, crime scene training, police discussion, crime discussions, cops
About MassCops, the home for Massachusetts law enforcement.
The Massachusetts Law Enforcement Network opened in 1998 and is now a part of the New England Police Network The site is a pro-police discussion forum intended for sworn police officers and civilian law enforcement officials as well as those interested in pursuing a career in law enforcement here in Massachusetts.
The goal of The Massachusetts Law Enforcement Network is to provide an informal network of law enforcement officials here in Massachusetts for educational and informational purposes.
The forum covers many topics such as Police Related News Articles, Agency & Profession Discussions, Police Training as well as Law Enforcement Career Information.
The Massachusetts Law Enforcement Network and The New England Police Network (NEPN) and it's network sites are privately owned websites/domains and are not affiliated with or endorsed by any government association or agency.
MassCops (masscops.com) and (masscop.com) are privately owned are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Massachusetts Coalition of Police (masscop.org)
ma police, boston ma police, massachusetts police, massachusetts police, mass state police, mass police, ma, mass, massachusetts, massachusetts, massachutes, massachusetts law, massachusetts polece, police, officer, police officer, cops, police gear, law enforcement, police duty gear, state police, sheriff, law, police supply, police agency directory, police agency, police department, traffic officer, police dept, state trooper, dispatcher, massachusetts county sheriff, massachusetts sheriff, massachusetts department of corrections, ma doc, doc, dept of corrections, police information, civil service, ma civil service, massachusetts crime, police training, police academy, ma police academy, massachusetts officers, masscop, masscops, mpa, bpa, ibpoa, police association, massachusetts police news, massachusetts crime news, mass most wanted, police career information, police patrol, police administration, police books, crime scene training, police discussion, crime discussions, cops