Pennsylvania, Illinois take legal steps to halt base closures

Pennsylvania and Illinois took legal action Monday to halt the proposed closure or transfer of military bases in their states.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell joined with Attorney General Tom Corbett to announce the filing of a lawsuit to stop the deactivation of an Air National Guard unit at the Willow Grove air base, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Nine of the 15 planes there would be moved to Maryland, Idaho and Michigan, with the remaining six taken out of service.

Rendell and Corbett cited federal law that indicates no such changes can be made without the consent of the governor of the state affected. "I was never consulted and never consented," Rendell said.

Meanwhile, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich wrote Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission Chairman Anthony Principi that he would not consent to the transfer of F-16 fighters from Springfield, Ill., to Indiana, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

"This lack of consultation compromises the integrity of the process used to develop the BRAC recommendations and disregards my role as commander-in-chief of the Illinois National Guard," Blagojevich wrote.

A Defense Department spokesman said the Pentagon assumed when making its recommendations that the base closing law supersedes other laws.