“I’m really very pleased at the news we received this morning. There’s more work to be done, but with regard to Crane, its future now seems secured. This is the best result we could have hoped for. With regard to both Crane and Terre Haute, we are already at work on plans that will, I believe, in time, bring more new jobs than are being realigned and probably before those jobs ever move. I’m very positive about the prospects for both of those facilities. And with regard to the state as a whole, this is a spectacular outcome, beyond anything I had anticipated. Vigilance is still required. We will press for an even better outcome as the commission takes these recommendations under consideration. Four months ago, this kind of outcome could not have been anticipated and was not in prospect.”

 

Quotes from the governor’s Friday morning news conference

 

About the proposed realignment of jobs to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service in Lawrence:

As I read it, they’ll (jobs) come, at least potentially, from the Washington, D.C., area. We’ll be glad to have them and their dollars. There’s a little historical footnote here that I can’t help but remarking on. On p. 20 of that section, in justifying that move to Indiana, and a few other places, I read, ‘This recommendation supports the Administration’s urging of federal agencies to consolidate personnel services.’ Coincidentally, that is a move I put in place as OMB director in 2001 with never imagining it might one day result in a benefit here in Indiana. But what a delightful peripheral discovery in so much good news today.”

 

About the BRAC decision on Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center:

“The first thing we’re going to do is argue to the BRAC Commission that the same good reasons that have preserved Crane ought to preserve all of it, and we ought to be successful in the short term. Beyond that, Crane, I think, is surviving in part because it’s a great place to grow. The legislature assured it will never be encroached on, even around its very wide area that it now occupies. I see over time it acquiring new business and other business inside the DoD. Third, Crane has just begun to scratch the surface of its private sector potential, its university partnership potential. I think there are jobs and income from that source in the years ahead. We’re going to work very hard on that.

 

“Winston Churchill once said there is nothing so exhilarating in life as to be shot at without result. This is not a bullet we just dodged at Crane, it is a mortar shell. I am very optimistic that either in the short term or at least over the intermediate long term, there will be more jobs coming to Crane from these sources I just mentioned than are scheduled in this recommendation to be realigned. We’re going to work on that right away.”

 

About the Hulman Regional Airport Air Guard State in Terre Haute:

“Indiana has been blessed to be the only state in America with two air wings of the National Guard. General Umbarger (Adjutant General of the Indiana National Guard) and I have discussed for months that was not likely to last under any circumstances. The fact that the realignment is happening inside our state, that Fort Wayne is growing by 300 plus jobs, that’s great news. Secondly, the Terre Haute base is not closing. The vast majority of its current positions remain. And third, the General and I have been working for some time on some intriguing possibilities that just as at Crane, might allow us to grow back the redeployed jobs and more.”

 

Other:

“We made every argument we could think of to every person who mattered or might matter. We made arguments on the merits, which were in my opinion unmistakable. Those merits were fully seen and have just been recognized.”

 

“This report does show this means savings of tens of billions of dollars over the long term. We always said that even though Indiana was in great jeopardy, we supported the BRAC concept. As Americans, we should. We should not keep open bases or post offices or license branches, for that matter, at taxpayer expense, that are not delivering the service they once did or are no longer needed.”

 

 

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