(CO) Front Range business leaders push for statewide military lobbying effort

[unhappycamper]

http://gazette.com/front-range-business-leaders-push-for-statewide-military-lobbying-effort/article/1514099

Front Range business leaders push for statewide military lobbying effort
By Tom Roeder Published: February 6, 2014 | 7:25 am

Fearing further defense cuts and the possibility of base closures, Front Range business leaders are pushing for a statewide lobbying effort to lean on the Pentagon and Congress to keep Colorado's share of the Pentagon pie and possibly make it larger.

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Colorado Springs has seen a decade of military growth. Fort Carson, alone, doubled in size over 10 years from 13,000 soldiers in 2003 to more than 26,000 in 2013. That brought billions in construction cash to the Pikes Peak region, with nearly $3 billion spent at Fort Carson over the decade and $242 million more in building there on tap in 2014 to house a helicopter brigade.

The military pumps an estimated $7 billion into the Pikes Peak region economy annually and has more than 78,000 troops, civilian workers and contractors on the payroll statewide.

In an effort to keep that cash flowing, Merritt, Anderson and others are asking the state for $220,000 annually for the contracting center, $100,000 for the economic study and another, yet-to-be-defined commitment to lobbying.