Nominations for the nine-member commission that will make recommendations this year on which military facilities should be closed or cut back were handed to the Senate by President Bush on Tuesday, and no South Carolinians were among those named.

The nominees include former armed services, defense and political officials. When confirmed by the Senate, the commission will be tasked with evaluating the bases listed in Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's base realignment and closure list, which is scheduled to be forwarded to the commission by May 16.

Earlier this month, Bush nominated Anthony Principi, former secretary of the Department of Veteran Affairs, to lead the commission.

In addition to Principi, the nominees are former Rep. James Bilbray, D-Nev.; Clinton administration Assistant Defense Secretary Philip Coyle; retired Adm. Harold Gehman Jr.; former Rep. James Hansen, R-Utah; retired Army Gens. James Hill and Claude Kicklighter; George H.W. Bush administration Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner of Illinois; and retired Air Force Gen. Sue Ellen Turner of Texas.

Although no South Carolina natives were nominated to sit on the commission, state officials and members of the Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce's Military Enhancement Committee said Tuesday that they're generally pleased with the recommendations.

"We would've liked to have seen someone with closer South Carolina ties on the panel," said retired Marine Col. John Payne, chairman of the county military committee, a group established to protect Beaufort's bases.

With Beaufort County home to Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, the U.S. Naval Hospital and Parris Island Marine Corps Recruit Depot, local and state officials are keeping a close eye on 2005 closures, expected to affect up to 25 percent of the nation's military installations and be the biggest round of base closings since World War II.

Wesley Denton, a spokesman for Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said the senator doesn't think a lack of commissioners from the Palmetto State will bode negatively for South Carolina's bases.

"Our case is strong enough to be made to anyone," Denton said. "The senator is still extremely confident that we can successfully promote the bases and be in line for an expansion."

The commission will review the recommendations and forward them to the president by Sept. 8. The president will have until Sept. 23 to accept or reject the recommendations.

If accepted, Congress will have 45 legislative days to reject the recommendations in their entirety or they will become binding, according to the Department of Defense.