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With New Assignment, John Rutherford's Better Positioned to Help Jacksonville

May 21, 2018 - 6:00am
John Rutherford
John Rutherford

Congressman John Rutherford scored a big win for the First Coast last week when he was named to the House Appropriations Committee. 

It’s not too much to say that whoever holds the Northeast Florida congressional seat that Rutherford now occupies has one main task on Capitol Hill: fighting for the naval bases on the First Coast. This has been the main job that three of Rutherford’s predecessors have focused on for almost seven decades. 

The centerpiece of Jacksonville’s naval community is Naval Station Mayport. Founded at the end of 1942 during World War Two, Mayport was shut down, became a Coast Guard post and then relaunched in 1948. Throughout its history, Mayport, like the rest of the naval bases on the First Coast such as NAS Jacksonville, has often benefited from congressional patrons.

Chief among those was Charlie Bennett. Serving four and a half decades in Congress, the longest congressional career in Florida history,  Bennett was a hawkish Democrat who was an expert on defense issues. While he was known for his ethics and for placing “In God We Trust” on the currency, much of Bennett’s focus was on defense issues. Since the First Coast Democrat was far closer to the Reagan administration on defense issues, House Democrats put Les Aspin in charge of the Armed Services Committee instead of Bennett, ignoring the Florida congressman’s seniority. Despite that, Bennett used his service on the committee to ensure the Navy remained prominent on the First Coast.

Republican Tillie Fowler was elected to Congress in 1992 after Bennett retired. Breaking with the GOP on some social issues, Fowler was reelected three times and moved up the Republican leadership ladder. Fowler was active on the  House Armed Services Committee, urging the Clinton administration to keep a strong defense budget and watched over the various Navy bases on the First Coast. Fittingly, Fowler advised Don Rumsfeld until her death in 2005.

Crenshaw took Fowler’s place after she retired in 2000. From his perch on the Appropriations Committee, Crenshaw followed in Bennett’s and Fowler’s footsteps, looking to protect bases on the First Coast. As part of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Crenshaw battled with the Virginia delegation over bringing a nuclear powered carrier to Mayport. Currently Norfolk is the only home port for carriers on the Atlantic seaboard, something Crenshaw unsuccessfully tried to change in recent years. 

For what it’s worth, Rutherford’s task might be a bit easier than Crenshaw’s since the main obstacle to having a carrier at Mayport--Virginia Republican Randy Forbes-- is no longer on Capitol Hill. Back in 2011, the House Armed Services Committee voted to gut funding that was allocated for improvements Mayport needs in order to house a carrier. Forbes, who at the time chaired the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee and who was looking to ensure Norfolk would be the only naval base on the East Coast with a nuclear carrier, crowed that slashing $30 million in funding from Mayport would help the Old Dominion.

Crenshaw fired back, noting that Pentagon officials maintained America needed two ports for nuclear carriers on the Atlantic seaboard. While Mayport has traditionally housed aircraft carriers, there have not been any stationed there since 2007 when the USS John F. Kennedy was decommissioned.

After sixteen years in Congress, Crenshaw decided not to run for another term in 2016. Forbes wasn’t so lucky. In a nasty primary in June 2016, former Navy SEAL Scott Taylor beat Forbes 52 percent to 40 percent. While there had been talk that Forbes could end up as secretary of the Navy in the Trump administration, he was passed over and is now a senior fellow at the Naval War College. 

With his new assignment in hand, Rutherford now has a better chance of following the Bennett/Fowler/Crenshaw playbook when it comes to funding the First Coast’s Navy bases. Now 65 as he heads to the end of his first term, Rutherford is considerably older now than Bennett--who was in late 30s--and Fowler--who was 49--were when they first came to Washington, D.C. Even Crenshaw, who had been active in Florida politics for the better part of three decades before winning his House seat in 2000, was in his mid 50s. 

Time isn’t exactly on Rutherford’s side but he has impressed during his first year and a half on Capitol Hill. Thanks in part to the support of Texas Republican Michael McCaul, Rutherford made a big impression--especially for a freshman--on the Homeland Security Committee. On a range of issues from school safety to keeping terrorists out of the U.S., Rutherford has done well during his first term in Congress. He’s certainly done well to get a seat on Appropriations so quickly. 

Representing a solidly conservative Republican district, Rutherford should be able to keep his seat in the foreseeable future. With his new assignment, Rutherford is far better positioned to follow in Bennett’s, Fowler’s and Crenshaw’s footsteps and fight to ensure the Navy continues with a major presence in Jacksonville.

 


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