Base closing nominee promises no politics in decisions

President Bush's choice to head the military base-closing commission pledged Tuesday to keep politics out of the process of identifying facilities to phase out while lawmakers zealously try to protect them.

Anthony Principi, who previously served as Bush's secretary of Veterans Affairs, was promised quick approval by the Senate Armed Services Committee and is expected to win easy Senate confirmation.

"I hope to get your name to the floor before the weekend,"Senate Armed Services Chairman John Warner, R-Va., said after a hearing on Principi's nomination to chair the nine-member Base Closure and Realignment Commission.

Also Tuesday, Bush announced the nomination of eight others to serve on the commission. They are former Rep. James Bilbray, D-Nev.; former Rep. James Hansen, R-Utah; former White House Chief of Staff and former Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner; Senior Adviser to the Center for Defense Information Philip Coyle; Adm. Harold Gehman, Jr., U.S. Navy (Ret.); Gen. James T. Hill, U.S. Army (Ret.); Lt. Gen. Claude Kicklighter, U.S. Army (Ret.), and Brigadier Gen. Sue Ellen Turner, U.S. Air Force (Ret.).

Principi drew praise from senators as he pledged fairness in a job that could see perhaps 100 military bases either closed or realigned.

"As chairman, I believe it is important to set the tone for our deliberations: to ensure that our work is devoid of politics, to address potential conflicts of interest, to be independent, fair, open and equitable, to build consensus and to ensure the communities and people impacted by the BRAC process have an opportunity to be heard," he said in answer to the committee's written questions.

Warner, a one-time secretary of the Navy who ordered contentious base-closings on his own, noted that Congress has changed base-closing rules over the years to avoid partisanship.

Principi faces a tight schedule. The Defense Department must give BRAC a list of the facilities it wants closed or realigned by May 16. BRAC will evaluate the recommendations and judge them on a set of criteria topped by national security interests, Principi said. The commission's final recommendations must be in the president's hands by Sept. 8, and he will have until Sept. 23 to accept or reject them. If he accepts them, Congress will have 45 days to reject the proposals in entirety or they become binding on the Pentagon.

Principi pledged that at least one commissioner will visit each community on the closing list for discussions before the plan is sent to Bush.