[Peace-discuss] Belleville: Lockheed organizing city councils to pressure Durbin to back F-35

[Robert Naiman]

We should counter this.

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http://www.bnd.com/2013/09/21/2810493/lobbyist-spurs-belleville-city.html#storylink=cpy

*Belleville shows support for controversial jet; councilwoman calls it
'inappropriate'*
Published: September 21, 2013

By MIKE FITZGERALD — News-Democrat

BELLEVILLE — The letters have been streaming into the office of U.S. Sen.
Dick Durbin, D-Springfield, for months now.

They've poured in from all corners of Illinois, from chambers of commerce
and city councils of Orland Hills, Elk Grove and Downers Grove. One even
came from the St. Clair County Housing Authority, according to Durbin's
office.

The letters urge Durbin, the chairman of the Senate Defense Appropriations
Subcommittee, to keep alive the controversial F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
because the program supports 2,000 jobs in Illinois and generates more than
$500 million in economic benefits.

On Monday, the Belleville City Council joined the public bodies urging
Durbin to save the F-35, which, with a planned cost of $1.5 trillion, is
the most expense weapons program in Pentagon history. It's also been one of
the most heavily criticized.

But in urging the council to approve the letter (a copy of which also was
sent to U.S. Rep. Bill Enyart, D-Belleville), Mayor Mark Eckert did not
cite the F-35's history of operational failures and cost overruns, or the
fact that Durbin has expressed skepticism about the program's future.

Instead, Eckert told the council that Scott Air Force Base serves all the
armed services and that the F-35, even though it won't be based there,
"will create some jobs to help the economic impact of our state and will
also indirectly or directly positively affect it."

Eckert told the council the letter originated with Jeff Dixon, the son of
former U.S. Sen. Alan Dixon, D-Belleville.

When asked if Jeff Dixon, a Chicago lobbyist, works for anyone connected to
the F-35, Eckert replied, "I'm not sure who his employer is," according to
a videotape of the meeting posted online.

Dixon acknowledged to the News-Democrat that he is working indirectly for
defense giant Lockheed Martin, the F-35's primary contractor.

"I think it's just an effort to demonstrate the support for the program and
why it's good for the country and any region of the country," Dixon said of
the campaign to promote the F-35.

But Melinda Hult, a Ward 2 alderwoman, accused Eckert of lobbying on behalf
of Lockheed Martin by sending the letter in support of the F-35 to Durbin.

"I felt he was using the city as a lobbyist and that is inappropriate,"
said Hult, the only council member to vote against the letter supporting
the F-35. "I feel it's really inappropriate for a municipality to be acting
as a lobbyist, especially on issues we know nothing about."

Laura Siebert, a Lockheed Martin spokeswoman, said the effort to promote
the F-35 is coming from both Lockheed and its supplier base.

"Because it's just as important to our supplier base that they continue to
have these jobs at a time when budgets are being cut, and sequestration is
at the forefront," she said. "It's important that our country and the
people need to understand the need for this aircraft. The threats are
there. We need this aircraft. And the secondary message, by the way, is it
supports over 100,000 jobs in this country. So it's a great story."

The F-35 was conceived as a "fifth generation" fighter that could serve the
wide-ranging needs the Air Force, Navy and Marines in the decades ahead. In
2001, the Pentagon planned to buy 2,852 of the planes. The current
estimated cost per plane is about $120 million.

The Marine Corps version of the F-35 is scheduled to begin operational
flying in two years. The Air Force and Navy versions are set to begin
flying in 2016 and 2019, respectively. The Pentagon estimates it will spend
$136 billion a year for the next three decades to operate the F-35 fleet.

But after decades of setbacks, the fighter program reached a crossroads at
a time when the Pentagon faces $500 billion in planned budget cuts over the
next decade, plus another $500 billion in cuts because of the federal
budget sequester.

In 2012, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta officially took the Marine
Corps version of the fighter plane off probation. Recent reports, however,
show the program is at least $150 billion over budget.

Durbin raised questions in June about the F-35's viability.

"In the financial industry, we have this phrase, 'too big to fail,' and I'm
wondering if this project is so large in scope that it was too big to
cancel," Durbin said. "Have we reached a point when it comes to
acquisitions in the future that we have to take this into consideration?"

The answer is yes, according to Stephen Miles, a spokesman for Win Without
War, a not-for-profit coalition of groups seeking a "smart" military
spending policy.

Miles said it's no coincidence letters to the U.S. Congress calling for
support of the F-35 program are going out now, when efforts are underway to
slash the nation's military spending.

"I think the uptick of activity that you see coming from (Lockheed Martin)
is indicative of concern over the future of the program," said Miles, who
started an online petition calling for the F-35's cancellation. "Everyone
recognizes that the program as planned is unsustainable. There simply isn't
$1.5 trillion to spend on a weapons system that doesn't work."

A spate of recent news stories have highlighted the F-35's woes with
software, engine turbine blades and the fact, recently reported in Vanity
Fair magazine, that the "Pentagon's supposedly 'all weather' F-35 Lightning
II, ironically cannot fly within 25 miles of lighting."

Money for the F-35 is money that could come from other defense programs
that could directly benefit Scott Air Force Base, Miles said.

"The reality is if you protect the F-35, you do so at the expense of other
programs," he said.

Contact reporter Mike Fitzgerald at mfitzgerald at bnd.com or 618-239-2533.
-- 
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
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