Senator takes lieutenant governor to task

State Sen. Don Gaetz is critical of how Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll is handling her role as the state’s advocate for the Defense Support Task Force.

“Frankly, I think the lieutenant governor has been hesitant to engage in effective lobbying in Washington on Eglin issues,” Gaetz said.

Furthermore, Carroll presented a report that the task force chairman said was “full of inaccuracies” about Eglin Air Force Base.

The Defense Support Task Force was created by the Legislature and given the job of preserving Florida’s military bases and missions.

It was provided with $5 million from a cash-strapped state budget.

At its first meeting in January, members of the state-funded task force decided lobbying to prevent an Air Force move to put Eglin’s 46th Test Wing under the command of a two-star general at California’s Edwards Air Force Base should be its first priority.

The fear is that such a move, couched as a money-saving “consolidation,” would lead to the test wing’s valuable research, development, testing and evaluation component being shipped out west.

That would negatively impact Eglin and could prove highly detrimental to the region’s aerospace industry and local economic well-being.

Carroll’s military experience and her connections in Washington, D.C., were thought to be an asset and she was given a role on the task force as a liaison.

Gaetz, R-Niceville, who sponsored the bill creating the task force, wants more from the lieutenant governor.

“She is positioned to get information,” he said. “Information is fine; we need advocacy.”

Though the task force didn’t hold its first meeting until January, the threat to Eglin’s test wing is considered immediate.

And according to task force chairman David Goetsch, requests for information from the Air Force about the consolidation and for justification for the proposed changes in its Materiel Command structure have been mostly ignored.

“So far the Air Force has just thumbed its nose at all of us,” Goetsch said.

Gaetz has been urging task force members from the beginning to move forward quickly.

“I had expressed concern the task force be an effective advocate — not doing studies, making reports and attending meetings,” he said. “The issue is right in front of us right now.”

He said the six task force members from Northwest Florida “get it,” but others, particularly the lieutenant governor, have been slow to pick up their cause and take it to Washington.

“This is not something where you can sit on a commission year after year and attend meetings,” Gaetz said. “There is a reluctance, or maybe a false start, on the lieutenant governor’s office part.”

Gaetz, the state Senate’s president designate, and Carroll crossed swords at the most recent meeting of the task force.

Carroll had challenged Gaetz’s assertion that Gov. Rick Scott was considering cutting the task force budget by 90 percent, to $500,000, after its first year in existence.

Gaetz arrived at the meeting bearing paper-work to prove what he’d said about the budget cut recommendation and a letter again calling on the task force to get moving.

“The task force has no time to waste in advocating forcefully and effectively for our military bases and missions,” Gaetz said in the letter. “Legislators may have little choice but to support the governor’s budget proposal if immediate action isn’t taken by the task force to prove its value.”

Gaetz said Scott is a staunch supporter of Florida’s military bases but isn’t willing to sit back while a state-financed board muddles about.

Carroll demonstrated a lack of knowledge about Eglin at the same meeting in which she was chastised by Gaetz.

She presented a report comparing Eglin and Edwards that Goetsch said had numerous flaws.

Carroll’s press office did not respond Monday to a phone call seeking comment or a request for the specific source of the information the lieutenant governor cited in her report.

The report, which urged the task force to “move forward with caution” in its resistance to the proposed consolidation, contained a six-point matrix Carroll said the Air Force had used to make its decision to put the 46th Test Wing under the Edwards command.

The six criteria used by the Air Force, the report said, were access to major airports, composition of staff, facility capacity and security, costs, access to education and mission.

It lists Eglin as having 4,183 civilian personnel and Edwards as having 9,000 civilians and contrac-tors.

Eglin actually has 9,500 civilian employees, includ-ing 2,944 contractors, according to numbers provided by the base Mon-day.

On the education issue, Carroll’s report said the closest college is 20 miles away at the University of West Florida.

In fact, Troy University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Southern Illinois all offer on-base courses at Eglin, and Northwest Florida State College and UWF each has a campus just off the base.

Troy and the University of Florida Research and Education Engineering Facility are located in Okaloosa County close to Eglin.

Carroll’s report states “it is unknown if Eglin offers K-12 schools and a child development center on base.”

Eglin Elementary School is located on base, according to base spokes-woman Lois Walsh, and the base does have a child development center.

Meigs and Lewis middle schools are within 1.5 miles of the base.

Carroll’s report states the civilian airport closest to Eglin is Destin Airport, 23 miles from the base.

Actually, Northwest Florida Regional Airport is located on Eglin Air Force Base.

Carroll’s report also stated that Eglin has “serious encroachment issues on the land and in the air” and that it had “lost the opportunity to host additional F-35’s (new jets for training) because of ‘environmental factors.’ ”

Eglin officials have acknowledged encroachment issues in the past and taken steps to address them but were unable Monday to respond specifically to the lieutenant governor’s assessment.

Carroll’s report said “security is very tight at Edwards” and stated the proposed consolidation could be implemented there at “no significant cost.”

It stated reorganization would create no space issues at Edwards.

“Space is ready, just flip the switch to start,” Car-roll’s report said.

It called Eglin space availability “unknown.” The report said Eglin’s “start up cost to meet this realignment” was also unknown.