LA Times on Thune

LA Times:

Thune lobbied panel to save S.D. air base

Commission's changes would cut billions from Pentagon's savings figures

By John Hendren

Los Angeles Times

Originally published August 27, 2005

ARLINGTON, Va. - The military base closing commission continued to defy the Pentagon's wishes yesterday, voting to spare South Dakota's politically charged B-1 bomber base and averting the shutdown of a major Air Force base in New Mexico.

Ellsworth Air Force Base was kept open after feverish lobbying by lawmakers from South Dakota, while New Mexico officials claimed a "partial victory" from a compromise that keeps Cannon Air Force Base open through 2009 and urges Defense officials to find new missions to keep it open thereafter.