During the 2014 CD2 Republican Primary race candidate Shelly Kais has repeated over and over again that if Tucsonans play nice with the Air Force in the battle for the A-10, they might decide to send the new KC-46A to Davis Monthan.
At last night’s CD2 forum, Kais did not mention the KC-46. It could be because the day before Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said in a release that the next-generation tanker will fly out of New Hampshire first.
Throughout the A-10 fight, Air Force insiders have said that the tanker would not be coming to Davis Monthan Air Force base located in Tucson, Arizona to replace the Warthog. Yet, Shelly Kais admonished her fellow candidates and A-10 supporters for their criticism of the Air Force’s plan to scrap the slow and low flying plane.
That plan was thwarted by Senator Kelly Ayotte, from New Hampshire, the new home of the KC-46.
Candidates Chief Master Sergeant (ret) Chuck Wooten and Colonel (ret) Martha McSally took a different tack from Kais. McSally was silent through most of the fight for the A-10, only acting after Congressman Ron Barber acknowledged the plane was in trouble and announced his plans to fight for it.
McSally wrote an op-ed. She advised residents to allow the powers-that-be to handle the matter. In her op-ed, McSally said that all decisions are “pre-decisional.” This means there had been no decisions made, according to sources, she could not have been more wrong. She took the Air Force propaganda at face value rather than digging into the details and realizing that, in fact the Air Force priorities were discussed in these “strategy meetings.” To his credit, Barber was privy to all the information, which he did not go public with, until after he was quite sure the Air Force was determined to divest.
Wooten went to D.C and met with A-10 pilots and attended a Congressional hearing with them to show Congress and the Air Force that the plane had strong support in Arizona.
McSally caused a stir at the candidate forum held at the Vail Academy when she repeated once again that her career ended because of a lawsuit with the Pentagon over her refusal to wear the customary garb while stationed in Saudi Arabia.
The Air Force personnel, who came to see their Air Force colleagues battle it out, shook their heads in disbelief as she repeated the false claim. They know that the career ending move by McSally was legendary, but it wasn’t the lawsuit. It was a comment she made during a pinning ceremony at Maxwell Air Force base in Alabama, at which she referred to the “toothless Alabamans.”
The Republicans of CD2 have not had the chance to see their candidates face off in a debate. There have only been forums, which has not allowed for the candidates to challenge each other’s’ claims.
Related articles:
CD2 forum leaves more McSally questions than answers
McSally’s debate claims subject to debate
Barber, joined by McSally in fight for A-10