Davis-Monthan backers roll out new campaign to support Tucson air base

A support group for Davis-Monthan Air Force Base has launched a new local marketing campaign, trying to drum up more grassroots support even as it amps up its lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C.

The DM50, a mainly business-backed group that advocates for the base, plans to roll out a new “Support Our Base” campaign Tuesday, Oct. 18, with graphical wrap ads on the back ends of four SunTran buses.

The ads show D-M imagery and advertise SupportOurBase.com, a new web link to the DM50, with the slogan “America’s Asset. Tucson’s Treasure.”

Bob Logan, president of the DM50, said while the group is known for its outside advocacy of the base and programs to help D-M’s airmen and their families, one of its main missions is to educate the community about D-M’s value.

“We’ve been under the radar publicly for a long time, probably by design,” said Logan, who is University of Arizona assistant dean for external and corporate relations.

“We feel that we should be stronger in our voice and let people know the community does support what we are doing.”

The DM50 and other supporters have cranked up efforts to promote D-M since the Air Force floated a plan in 2013 to retire the A-10 Thunderbolt II ground-attack plane, which comprises D-M’s biggest mission.

Logan said the group’s “Salute to Davis-Monthan” event in November 2014 was the first time the DM50 reached out to the larger business community to ask for sponsorship support, and the response was overwhelming. A second salute event held in April quickly sold out.

“It’s pretty powerful when you reach out to the community, to see how many people support what we are doing and what the base is all about,” Logan said.

Meanwhile, the DM50 unveiled the findings of an initial six months’ worth of work by consultants hired by D-M supporters including the DM50, the city of Tucson and Pima County to develop strategies to preserve the air base.

The findings were released to the county under its agreement to back the consulting effort, and the report was released to the city after some residents complained about a lack of transparency and City Councilman Steve Kozachik pushed to release the documents.

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Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and the Air National Guard 162nd Wing in Tucson have the strong, long-term support of political and military officials, a consultant working on strategies to support the local bases says.

The report by S’Relli Consulting said that in 32 meetings with the consultants, political and military leaders consistently said D-M and the Air National Guard 162nd Wing at Tucson International Airport are “now and will continue to be indispensable national assets for the foreseeable future.”

S’Relli Consulting is headed by retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Gene Santarelli, who is partnering on the D-M work with Fred Pease, a former Air Force deputy assistant secretary for installations and environmental policy.

During their work through July, the consultants said they had 32 presentations and discussions with senior civilian and military leaders.

The consultants helped local leaders develop briefings for their D-M lobbying efforts, focusing on “anchor factors,” significant operational advantages like the base’s close proximity to major ground-attack training ranges, year-round flying weather and the presence of the Air Force’s biggest aircraft storage and maintenance facility, the 309th Aircraft Maintenance and Regeneration Group.

The consultants also helped schmooze supporters at the April salute event, and analyzed noise and safety data to bolster the case to bring the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to D-M.

The latest Air Force data, gathered by the consultants during a visit to Lockheed Martin’s F-35 plant in Dallas in May, shows the F-35 is not significantly louder in some scenarios than the loudest F-16s that already fly frequently at D-M, the consultants said.

The head of a group that opposes basing the F-35 and other louder planes at D-M, disputed those findings.

“It is pitiful, and it is just propaganda,’ said Mary Terry Schiltz, president of the nonprofit advocacy group Tucson Forward Inc., noting that other Air Force data shows the F-35 is significantly louder than the F-16 in most scenarios.

Schiltz called the agreements by the city and county to each contribute $180,000 to fund the three-year consulting effort “an abuse of taxpayer dollars.”

The DM50’s Logan said the steering committee will continue to share updates on a quarterly or monthly basis, but the groups don’t want to tip their hands to other military communities that may be competing for some of the same new missions.