The money will be used to help local officials protect Shaw Air Force Base from the federal government's Base Realignment and Closure process. Sumter has now received a total of $200,000 for its BRAC-fighting effort.

South Carolina has given $800,000 to municipalities across the state in the past two years to fight BRAC. That doesn't include the $300,000 to $400,000 spent at the state level. The money has been spread evenly among the four areas that are home to the state's seven main military installations: Charleston, Columbia, Beaufort and Sumter.

It's been used primarily to hire consultants and lobbyists to bend the ears of the powerful and sell the idea of keeping bases open. For example, Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce hired a team of Washington-based consultants to help keep the Lowcountry's bases off the next closures list. Sanford also created the S.C. Military Base Task Force and the Governor's Military Base Advisory Committee.

"Our job is to do whatever we can to protect every military base in South Carolina, given that this is essentially a $4 billion industry for our state," Sanford said. "Just as Shaw has been critical to the success of countless American military missions, it's also critical to the economic mission of Sumter and of our state as a whole."

Under BRAC authority, the Pentagon draws up a list of excess capacity and an independent commission picks the bases to close. Congress can accept or reject, but can't change, that decision.

President Bush has pushed the measure as a means of modernizing and streamlining the military. In May, the U.S. House of Representatives broke with the Bush administration over base closings, disrupting the otherwise smooth passage of a massive defense bill.

The House voted to delay base closings, set for next year, by two years. Within minutes, the White House threatened to veto the bill.

The proposal sits in conference committee, where few expect it to emerge. Meanwhile, states such as South Carolina continue to fight behind the scenes.

While Sanford has estimated the military's economic worth to South Carolina at about $4.3 billion annually, his spokesman, Will Folks, has said that estimate may be low. The Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce estimated the military pumps $2 billion into Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties each year.

Click here to return to story:
http://www.charleston.net/stories/100804/sta_08bases.shtml