Tanker project a key point in 4th District ; Tiahrt, Pompeo at odds over credit for contract at McConnell

Kansas congressional candidates Todd Tiahrt and Mike Pompeo poured fuel Wednesday on a dispute about the $219 million federal appropriation to support deployment of new KC-46A tankers at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita.

Pompeo and Tiahrt are engaged in a rough-and-tumble Republican primary in the 4th District, where aviation manufacturing remains a force and McConnell generates $500 million annually for the economy. Pompeo assumed the U.S. HouseU.S. Senate in 2010.

In the latest exchange, Tiahrt challenged Pompeo's assertion made in campaign advertising the congressman deserved credit for action leading to scheduled deployment of 36 new tankers to the base starting in 2016.

"We fought for an American tanker built by American workers at an American company, and now he wants to take credit for it," Tiahrt said. "But the Congressional Record shows Mr. Pompeo voted against it. When it really mattered most, he voted against the funding to support McConnell."

The appropriations bill containing $219 million in infrastructure financing for the McConnell tanker project was adopted in January by the House 359-67, but Pompeo cast a dissenting vote. In an interview, Tiahrt said he would have voted for the bill.

Pompeo campaign manager Jim Richardson said Pompeo was instrumental -- starting in June 2011 -- in the development of Air Force interest in the Wichita military base as a host for the next generation of air-refueling tankers.

"This is actually something Mike worked on very, very hard for two years," Richardson said. "He's the one who started this conversation with the Air Force. It's something Mike poured his heart and soul into."

"The latest bizarre and untrue Tiahrt claim against Mike Pompeo that Mike worked against bringing the tankers to McConnell shows that desperation has already set in with the Tiahrt campaign. Wild, counterfactual claims like this are a disservice to voters," Richardson said.

The Air Force selected McConnell in 2013 as the first main active- duty base for the refueling aircraft. The legislation opposed six months ago by Pompeo allocated money for construction of three hangars to serve the tankers.

The sweeping funding bill was rejected by Pompeo because it reduced federal benefits to veterans and slashed prospects of restraining federal spending, Richardson said. The $1.1 trillion bill also concerned Pompeo as it contained aid for federal health insurance reforms commonly referred to as Obamacare.

"I still would have voted for it because it had too much impact on the local economy," Tiahrt said.

Richardson said Tiahrt's attempt to persuade voters Pompeo opposed the tanker program was "disingenuous" because every member of Congress had a voting record that could be manipulated to produce false characterizations.

For example, he said, pro-life Tiahrt could be cast as a supporter of abortion if the spotlight were fixed exclusively on his eight votes for Planned Parenthood. Interpreting Pompeo's vote against the January spending bill as opposition to the tanker deployment at McConnell is equally dishonest, Richardson said.

The advanced aircraft will replace 1950s-era KC-135 tankers, and the Kansas congressional delegation fought for years before the defense contract was awarded to Boeing Co. in early 2011. The company has a contract for $35 billion to build about 180 tankers by 2027, but the planes won't be constructed in Kansas.

Richardson said Tiahrt played a successful role assisting Boeing in capturing the contract to build the tankers, but the former congressman had nothing to do with influencing deployment of those aircraft to McConnell.

"It is worth noting that Mr. Tiahrt's efforts in Congress to assist Boeing were reversed when Boeing decided not to build that tanker in Kansas at the very time Mr. Tiahrt was a paid lobbyist for Boeing," Richardson said.

In 2012, Boeing shocked Kansas political leaders with the decision to close its Defense, Space and Security plant in Wichita. The announcement meant the loss of 2,000 jobs at a Boeing facility that once served as centerpiece of Wichita's claim as the air capital. Boeing had approximately 15,000 employees in Wichita as recently as 2005.