*TRENTON* — A unanimous vote by the state Assembly Monday made it
official: The entire state Legislature wants the decision to close Fort
Monmouth reversed.
In its last voting session before the new Legislature takes office, the
Assembly passed a resolution calling for the reversal of the federal
decision to close the 90-year-old Army post. The measure — sponsored by
Assembly members Michael J. Panter Jr., D-Monmouth, and Jennifer Beck,
R-Monmouth — was approved by an 80-0 vote.
The symbolic, nonbinding measure was the second of two resolutions
concerning the fort coming out of Trenton in less than a month. The
Senate in December also passed unanimously an identical measure
sponsored by Sens. Ellen Karcher, D-Monmouth, and Joseph M. Kyrillos
Jr., R-Monmouth.
Fort Monmouth — which employs more than 5,000 people, supports another
22,000 jobs and pumps about $3.2 billion into the state's economy — is a
casualty of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure round, the Pentagon's
nationwide effort to streamline the military and save money. Much of the
fort's mission is scheduled to be transferred to Maryland's Aberdeen
Proving Ground by 2011.
But the decision to close the post was based on "grossly inaccurate"
cost information that smacks of a "bait and switch," Panter said.
"This resolution formalizes New Jersey's demand that they reverse the
decision to close Fort Monmouth," Panter said. "This at least shows that
both Republicans and Democrats are unified in our support for the fort
and in our demand that it be left open."
The resolution cites an Asbury Park Press investigation that has
revealed the cost to shutter the post and move the bulk of its research
and development mission to Maryland has nearly doubled since 2005, from
$780 million to $1.5 billion. It also has revealed that Defense
Department officials knew the official cost estimate to close the fort
was wrong but chose to ignore the information.
The investigation found that the overall estimated cost of the 2005 BRAC
round has grown from about $21 billion to about $31.2 billion in the two
years since the decisions were made. A recent audit of the 2005 BRAC
decisions by the federal Government Accountability Office supports the
Press' findings.
"Had the BRAC Commission had access to all relevant information prior to
making its decision and known that the cost of closing and moving the
base would be so high, it is possible that the members of the commission
would not have voted to close Fort Monmouth," the resolution reads.
"The fact that this resolution was passed with bipartisan support is an
important statement that needs to be made — that the DOD used wrong
information and that this issue requires further review," Beck said.
"This unifies our state behind this issue and expresses to our federal
officials how seriously the people of this state take the closure of
Fort Monmouth."
While the resolution carries the sense of the Legislature, it lacks the
force of law. Still, U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., said it is
more ammunition to use in the reinvigorated battle to remove the fort
from the Pentagon's chopping block.
"Not only could closing the fort hurt the effort of our troops in the
field, but Pentagon estimates of the costs of closing the base have
nearly doubled in the two-plus years since our initial objections,"
Lautenberg said in a statement. "This resolution adds another important
voice to our effort to reverse the decision to close Fort Monmouth."
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