Congressman Hunter missing in action
Duncan Hunter is the most powerful congressman on the House defense appropriations committee, and professes to be a great lover of the military and the Navy. He’s overseen the appropriation of more than $3 trillion in spending on our military since 2001.
The Navy now needs $160 million to build a new regional headquarters building here in San Diego, but the game has been rigged so that to get one new building, the City of San Diego would be forced to sacrafice the rest of its unique 14 acre site on downtown’s waterfront to commercial development – and Congressman Hunter appears to be missing in action.
This is a very successful politician who has gotten multi-billion dollar aircraft carriers funded with no problems.
So why won’t Hunter help his good friends in the Navy fund one HQ building in his own home town?
For less than the price of a few one new joint strike fighter airplanes, the Navy could get its new local regional HQ building here and downtown San Diego could get a new 14 acre park on its waterfront. But so far, Hunter has been ducking this issue, even though as chair of the House military appropriations committee he’s overseeing a pending multi-trillion dollar defense spending bill. The cost of a new local Naval HQ building would get lost in the rounding of the pending appropriations bill.

Don Wood
Former Member
Bayfront Complex Coordinating Group Public Advisory Board
La Mesa