Gilmore, Warner agree on OLF

There aren't many things that former governors Jim Gilmore and Mark Warner will agree on as they campaign to succeed Sen. John Warner. But the need for an outlying landing field to serve the jets at Oceana Naval Air Station is thankfully one of them.

Both men would support an OLF - where pilots practice nighttime carrier landings - in Virginia if the Navy can make the case.

"I think the OLF is critical to maintaining the mission at Oceana," Warner said during an interview Monday with The Virginian-Pilot's editorial board.

Gilmore was equally unequivocal in an interview Wednesday: "I'm a U.S. Army veteran... and I understand the needs of national security here. I support the Navy in their efforts to gain an outlying landing field."

There's no question that both men understand the importance of a fully operational OLF suitable for high-tempo pilot practice, both for the future of Oceana and for the Navy's continued presence in Hampton Roads.

"It's a matter of national security," said Gilmore, a Republican. "It's a matter of the safety of our pilots."

The Navy has identified five possibilities for an OLF. Two are in North Carolina, and there's one each in Sussex, Surrey, and Southampton counties. Despite efforts from both the Navy and Virginia to leverage economic development possibilities to make an OLF attractive, opposition has been almost universal.

Potential neighbors argue that an OLF would destroy their heritage and way of life in order to solve a problem that Virginia Beach and Chesapeake created by permitting development around Oceana and Fentress.

Everyone involved has been searching for options and possibilities, but at the moment none is immediately obvious. And while the Navy has said it has no desire to condemn private property, in the end it may be left with few other options if it wants an OLF near Oceana.

"I would not rule out eminent domain," said Gilmore. "I would prefer that we work out an accommodation." There is no light between that position and Warner's: "[Eminent domain] should only be a last resort."

If agreement between Warner and Gilmore on such an important issue is unusual, there is some precedent. Reps. Bobby Scott and Randy Forbes, a liberal Democrat and a conservative Republican, are likewise united in their views on an OLF, promising to fight any attempt to force one on a community. Unfortunately, that agreement unites them on the wrong side of the issue.