Supporters of a ballot measure to put an airport at Miramar won an endorsement yesterday from six high-ranking retired officers, cracking what had been unwavering opposition from the military establishment.
“A commercial airport has to be conveniently near the city it serves,” retired Vice Adm. Paul F. McCarthy, former commanding officer of the aircraft carrier Constellation, said in a statement for the Yes on A campaign committee. “On the other hand, a military airport should be sited in a lower-risk area where it can maximize safety and security with enhanced military operations.”
Also supporting Proposition A were: Rear Adm. Francis Holian, a former commander of Navy Region Southwest; Rear Adm. George R. Worthington, a former Navy SEALs commander; Rear Adm. Raymond W. Burk, a former San Diego port commissioner; and Capt. Ronald E. “Mugs” McKeown, former first commanding officer of the “Top Gun” Fighter Weapons School at Miramar when it was under the Navy.
From the Marine Corps, the measure was endorsed by retired Lt. Col. Andrew Hewitt, a former senior intelligence liaison to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, Iraq.
Proposition A asks voters whether government officials should work to obtain a portion of the military air base for a commercial airport to some day replace Lindbergh Field, provided military readiness is unaffected.
Pentagon officials and local military leaders have said there is no suitable space at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station for a commercial operation and there is no way to mix passenger jets and tactical warplanes in the same airspace. Much of the No on A campaign has centered on support for the military.
McCarthy, who also authored an opinion piece in The San Diego Union-Tribune yesterday, echoed Yes on A advocates who argue conditions at Miramar may change and that San Diego should be poised to take advantage of a more favorable situation.
“Some day, perhaps sooner rather than later, the Marines may shift their potentially higher risk operations elsewhere,” he said yesterday. “No question, San Diego will require a new international airport. There is no viable alternative to Miramar.”
Retired Rear. Adm. Bruce Boland, an opponent of Proposition A, found the support unconvincing.
“I'm surprised that Paul (McCarthy) would have said that,” Boland said after hearing of McCarthy's comments. “He knows very well that there is no place for the Marines to go.”
The base realignment that made Miramar a Marine Corps base in 1997 was done with the thought it would “be here for a long, long time,” Boland said.
Jeff Ristine: (619) 542-4580; jeff.ristine@uniontrib.com
