Officials call for query into plans to close fort
Maclearie: Reversal of fort closure will result in additional expenses
BY MELISSA KARSH, DANIEL HOWLEY & JENNA O'DONNELL Staff Writers
Agroup of Monmouth County Assembly members are claiming that the decision to close Fort Monmouth was based on false and misleading information.

Six Assembly members are asking for further investigation into the decision-making process regarding the closure of Fort Monmouth and are calling on Gov. Jon S. Corzine and U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie to intervene.

"The process by which Fort Monmouth was chosen to be closed should outrage every citizen with an interest in good government," said District 12 Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon.

"We hope that this action will help to refocus efforts to reconsider the decision to close the fort. We want to begin to restore the confidence people should be able to expect in the integrity of our government and dissuade anyone from thinking they can manipulate important, potentially life threatening, government decisions in the future.

"Without consequences, we send the wrong message, both to the folks who committed these acts, and to the citizens who look to us to hold people accountable," he said.

"We feel that the obligation falls to us, as elected representatives of the areas of the county affected by the fort closure and of citizens of the United States, to use the power of our offices to fight the battle for government integrity wherever it needs to be fought," he said.

Letters were sent to Corzine and Christie onApril 24 byAssembly members Mary Pat Angelini and David Rible from District 11; Caroline Casagrande and Declan O' Scanlon from District 12 and Amy Handlin and Sam Thompson from District 13.

In the letter to Christie, the assembly members refer to "a mountain of evidence" uncovered, showing that Army officials "deliberately skewed and concealed data."

The letter states that if the concealed information was known at the time of the base closing commission's decisions, the outcome would have been to retain the Army facilities at Fort Monmouth.

"We know we are going up against the federal government," said Angelini. "It's because of the evidence that has been uncovered regarding the way it looks like Army officials have deliberately concealed data.

"Had that data been reviewed and known at the time of the commissions decision to close the base, it probably would not have closed FortMonmouth. Basically we are asking the governor to step in and say. 'Please throw your weight behind this.'"

According to O'Scanlon, the sixAssembly members believe that there is evidence that suggests that the decision by the BRAC Commission to close the Fort was based on "false and misleading information."

The costs of closing the fort are staggeringly higher than the Commission was led to believe, which means any potential savings is insignificant compared to the damage to the important counter-terrorism mission that personnel at the Fort perform, O'Scanlon said.

"There was a lot of evidence . . . uncovered regarding data that looked like it had been deliberately skewed as far as the cost of the closing of FortMonmouth,"Angelini said. "It is actually going to cost millions more than they originally said it was going to cost."

In light of the effort and expense that has already gone into the closure of Fort Monmouth, Tinton Falls Mayor Peter Maclearie said that it might be too late to reverse the process.

"To do an investigation may be the right thing and may set rules based on the process going forward," Maclearie said. "But I'm not sure if they can turn this around."

Maclearie said that both the Army and the employees of the fort have already spent money and made plans in anticipation of the pending closure, and to turn back in the process at this point could cause further complication and expense.

"Any firm that is involved [in the closure] has already started to make changes," Maclearie said.

The closure process is already underway with the three host towns, Tinton Falls, Oceanport and Eatontown, all taking part in the planning process.

The legislators say that although plans to close the fort are in motion, they will continue to call for an investigation into the closure.

"We are asking for several things," O'Scanlon said. "First, that the Governor join the existing lawsuit filed by the [American Federation of Government Employees Local 1904].

"Second, we are asking that U.S. Attorney Chris Christie open an investigation into the well documented, purposeful and potentially criminal manipulation of data that led to the BRAC Commission's decision to close the Fort.

"We believe the people responsible need to be held accountable," O'Scanlon added.

In the letter to Christie, the Assembly members also write that the actions of Army officials are already the subject of a federal lawsuit initiated by an employees' union.

The letter to Corzine states, "While you have made it clear on many occasions that you oppose the closing of Fort Monmouth, there is a growing sense that Fort Monmouth supporters are entering a David versus Goliath phase in which only a miracle, notwithstanding your opposition together with the bipartisan assistance of the area's Congress members, can save the Fort.

"We write to urge the State to throw its full weight behind the pending federal lawsuit by intervening in its own behalf and in behalf of the residents and commercial enterprises of the Monmouth County area," the letter states.

According to the letters, various cost estimates dealing with the overall costs of moving the fort operations to Maryland were deliberately deflated and skewed.

"We urge U.S Attorney Christie and Attorney General Anne Milgram, at the urging of the Governor, to join the battle, even at this late date, to save Fort Monmouth," said O' Scanlon.

"We hope that everybody is going to take a breath and look at the situation," Angelini said. "I know that this is a huge undertaking to have this huge ship, the federal bureaucracy to turn on a dime, but by sending the letter to the governor and Chris Christie, we are hoping that attention will be brought to this and that they will interview, and at the very least slow the ship down."