Region should take advantage of offer from US Sen. Portman

Over the weekend, some national news organizations speculated that Ohio’s Republican senator, Rob Portman, was on a short list to be the vice presidential running mate for the presumed GOP presidential nominee, Mitt Romney.

If Romney wins today’s primary in Wisconsin, he will be in a very strong position to win the nomination. Having Portman’s name mentioned is an indication of his standing in the national Republican Party and a recognition of Ohio’s must-win status in the November general election.

Add to that Portman’s membership on the Senate Armed Services Committee and the first-term senator’s offer to intercede on behalf of the Youngstown Air Reserve Station should be eagerly accepted by the Mahoning Valley.

The Vindicator’s editorial board received the following note via email in February from Portman’s director of communications, Jeffrey C. Sadosky:

“I just wanted to check in briefly because I saw your editorial in yesterday’s paper re BRAC and I wanted to make sure you had seen Portman’s efforts on this front. He had pulled together the entire delegation to meet, both D’s and R’s. We did a call afterwards with press in the cities potentially impacted by BRAC, I think William Alcorn from your news side of the paper was on the call. Obviously, with Portman on Senate Armed Services, this will be an issue we’ll be following closely and intimately involved in. Give a holler if we can ever help. “

Without a doubt, the senator’s office can help — not only to fend off the expected reduction in the reserve base’s operation because of cuts in Pentagon spending, but to push for the expansion of the second largest military installation in Ohio.

In the editorial published Feb. 12, we urged Valley residents to let their voices be heard as the Defense Department’s Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) begins its evaluation and research as part of the decision-making that will occur in 2013-14.

“While the Youngstown Air Reserve Station, home to the 910th Airlift Wing and Navy and Marine units, is in a stronger position this year than it was in 2005 to avert closure, nothing can be left to chance,” we said in the editorial.

That message was reiterated last week by Col. Rinehard L. Schmidt, commander of the 910th Wing and the air station in Vienna Township, adjacent to the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.

Indeed, the initial euphoria over the number of C-130 transport and cargo aircraft that will be left if the proposed defense department budget is passed into law may have been premature.

The 12 C-130s that have assigned to the Youngstown base will be reduced to eight — not to 10, as had been expected in February.

According to Col. Schmidt, two aircraft that had been on loan from the Air Force base in Little Rock, Ark., will be permanently stationed there. That isn’t good news for this region because it, along with the budget cuts, will result in 97 part-time reservists being cut, along with 33 full-time equivalent federal civilian employees and Air Reserve technicians.

Region’s economy

The economic impact of having the base in the Mahoning Valley has been well publicized. There are 2,400 reservists, civilians and contractors in full-time and part-time positions. The facility pumps $100 million into the region’s economy.

Sen. Portman’s offer to help preserve the Youngstown base, along with the effort that has consistently been put forth by U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, and the commitment of Ohio’s other senator, Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, give the Valley necessary political muscle in Washington.

The Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber, which has led previous successful campaigns not only to keep the air reserve base open but to attract additional federal investment, should once again launch Operation Save Our Air Reservists.