Gov. Haslam coming to Fort Campbell for critical meeting

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam will be there Jan. 20 for the listening session at Fort Campbell that could be critical to the future of the Army installation, according to Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan.

Several other key leaders won’t be able to make it, but in announcing the lineup, McMillan said the public needs to understand one thing above all else: This is a non-partisan issue.

Whether at City Hall, the County Courthouse, the state Legislature and governor’s office or among the Tennessee delegation in the U.S. Congress, there are no party lines on at least this one topic, she assured The Leaf-Chronicle this week.

“We don’t need in any way to treat this as a partisan issue,” McMillan said. “We don’t ask our military members before we help them what political party they belong to or who they voted for. And it’s important that we’re focused on the issue at hand, which is to make sure our military is strong, successful and that we treat the men and women and their families who serve our country with the respect they deserve.”

McMillan was among the area leaders on both sides of the Tennessee/Kentucky state line who went to Washington on Monday and Tuesday to represent the interests of Fort Campbell and their communities. She called the meeting productive for everyone involved, but said her biggest takeaway was the knowledge that whatever happens at Fort Campbell, it won’t be because the area’s leaders at home and in Washington were working at cross purposes.

State of Union same night

After being green-lighted from the governor’s office, McMillan made a long-awaited announcement that Haslam will be at the Jan. 20 meeting with senior Army officials at Fort Campbell.

Whether the governor would be there or not has been fodder for some anxious discussions since late December when the listening session date was finalized.

On the heels of that announcement, however, McMillan disclosed that the congressional delegation representing the area – Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, along with Rep. Marsha Blackburn – would not be able to attend because the State of the Union address falls on the same date.

The Army did not announce the date of the Fort Campbell listening session until the last week of December, putting Washington leaders on short notice. And while there is no constitutional requirement mandating attendance at the State of the Union, skipping the joint session of Congress is rare, even for the most partisan congressmen.

Corker’s office had already informed The Leaf-Chronicle he would be unable to make it to Fort Campbell.

‘I know they support Fort Campbell’

McMillan, who represented the Clarksville area for 12 years in the state Legislature as a Democrat, asked for the public’s understanding of the scheduling conflict for the three Republican leaders.

“They all have commitments in Washington,” she said. “They cannot be here. It’s not their fault. It’s not the president’s fault. The Army just set the date for this.

“Do I think that will affect the number of local folks who come? No; I’m sure they can set their DVR and watch the State of the Union later, but there are so many folks who would like to be here to at least voice their support but they can’t, because they’re being called elsewhere, because that’s their job. They have to be in Washington.

“I hope people understand that. I hope no one thinks because our senators or our representative aren’t there that they don’t support Fort Campbell. I know they support Fort Campbell. They support our military and making the defense of our country as strong as possible.”

McMillan said Alexander, Corker and Blackburn had assured her they would do everything possible to have members of their Tennessee staffs present.

Not a numbers game

While both Army and local leaders have expressed the need for strong public support at the listening session, which may have an impact on the extent of cuts made at Fort Campbell with enormous consequences for the area, she bristles at the idea that attendance numbers either way will reflect the extent of support for Fort Campbell in the community.

“I know for a fact,” she said, “that no matter how many people come out on Jan. 20, the support for Fort Campbell in this community, and in Kentucky as well, is as strong a support as you could have.

“The people in this community know they don’t have to come out to a listening session to voice support for Fort Campbell. We do that every day when we see military folks – when we’re shopping with them, eating with them, sending our kids to school with them, doing every single thing we can do to integrate them in our community and showing we care about them and want them here.”

For McMillan, while she regrets that the congressional delegation can’t be present, the feeling is that the governor’s presence was key.

“That’s the biggest thing,” she said. “It’s almost as if, in my mind, the whole focus of this listening session has changed because now we have the governor.”

Decision makers

Pointing to herself, she said, “It’s not like some of us don’t matter as much, but you know there’s only three people coming from DoD (Department of Defense). There will be a brigadier general here, but they’re not going to be making the decision. The decision is going to be made by the House and the Senate, because they’re the only ones who have a vote.

“This decision is going to have to be part of the budget. (Congress is) looking for things they can cut to try to balance the budget. We advocate just don’t take it from that slice of the pie (defense) because the ramifications of cutting into that are so great – so much greater than cutting into any other area of that pie. Some of the things we cut, we can’t get back.

“Are we going to continue with sequester? We’ve already put it off twice,” she said, referring to the process of mandating across-the-board cuts at the federal level.

Sequester is one of the mechanisms enacted as part of the Budget Control Act of 2011, when the legislative and executive branches could not agree on specific cuts during the debt ceiling crisis of 2011, threatening to send the US into sovereign default.

“Are we going to put it off again? Are we going to make changes to it? Those are decisions we won’t make, and those people (Army representatives) at the listening session; they won’t won’t make those decisions, either.”

McMillan said she understood that 30 other communities are going through the same thing, but that it was important for people here to understand where decisions will ultimately be made, and why.

“Those decisions are going to be made in Washington. That’s why it was important for us to go up there. Not that they didn’t know this. We weren’t telling them anything they didn’t already know.

“They know how important Fort Campbell is, how important national defense is, especially in the environment we see in the world with everything happening.

“I believe they’re going to be looking very hard at what they can do to balance the budget in a way that is fair to everyone and protects our national security. And I think that they will do that.”

Philip Grey, 245-0719

Military affairs reporter

philipgrey@theleafchronicle.com

Twitter: @PhilipGrey_Leaf

TO SUPPORT FORT CAMPBELL

What: Fort Campbell community listening session regarding potential personnel reduction at Fort Campbell. Community urged to attend.

When: Tuesday, Jan. 20, 6-8:30 p.m.

Where: Fort Campbell Family Resource Center (FRC), 1501 William C. Lee Road, inside Gate 1.

Access: Enter at Gate 1 with a valid photo ID, as early as 4 p.m. FRC building will open at 4:30 p.m. All bags are subject to inspection.