It’s not just Republicans who believe partisan politics played a role in President Joe Biden’s decision to keep the Space Command headquarters in Colorado Springs.
This month, Biden reversed the decision to relocate Space Command HQ to Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal.
Alabama House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels agrees with some of his Republican colleagues that politics probably influenced the decision.
Daniels (D-Huntsville) discussed the issue Friday on Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal.”
“I think our congressional delegation probably did all that they could do to try and land Space Command,” Daniels said. “We do understand that politics have consequences. I think that if Richard Shelby was in office in the station that he was, there’s no way we would’ve lost Space Command.”
The minority leader believes that U.S Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) might be somewhat responsible for Redstone Arsenal losing the headquarters.
“I think that our Sen. Britt, she’s done a phenomenal job staying out of the political spotlight and (not) dealing with issues that doesn’t bring the bacon home, and we appreciate her efforts,” he said. “But I think that our other senator, Sen. Tuberville, can learn a little bit from how Dick Shelby operated because, at the end of the day, we lost over $300 million in appropriations for the state of Alabama. And that’s something that we got to refocus our attention on.”
Daniels said he hopes Alabama doesn’t miss out on other investments coming to the state.
“We just got to get back to where we were, but look for the next opportunity,” he said. “There’s conversations about the FBI and other opportunities long term and I think we just have to be ready for that. But at the end of the day, we’ve got to play ball at a varsity level, and right now we’re playing at the junior varsity level.”
He also expressed some disbelief on Biden keeping the headquarters in another Republican district.
“My first thought … to be honest with you, I thought ‘how in the world did we lose Space Command to Lauren Boebert?’ Someone that models herself as being highly partisan,” he said.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
