By Daniel Hartill,Staff Writer

Of the nine people who will decide which military bases survive the upcoming closures, at least one ought to be from New England.

That’s the message of lawmakers from Maine, who are lobbying the president to name someone from New England to the Base Realignment and Closure Commission.

Six nominees have been put forward so far. They include two people from California, one from the Chicago area, two from Virginia and one from Utah.

“We expect President Bush to name a geographically diverse slate of BRAC commissioners who are knowledgeable, independent and capable,” Maine’s congressional delegation said Thursday in a joint statement.

The commissioners will also have to be thick-skinned.

On May 1, the group will be asked to consider the closure of as many as 100 military bases, 25 percent of the U.S. total. Once the Pentagon’s proposed list is made public two weeks later, each of the commissioners is expected to be lobbied heavily by every affected town, state and politician.

For instance, if Brunswick Naval Air Station appears on the list, the chairman of the local effort to keep the base open predicts a tough response from the Brunswick area.

“On May 16, it’s open warfare,” Richard Tetrev, the former second-in-command at the base, said Tuesday.

Of the six people nominated so far, all are either former politicians or military leaders.

In January, House Speaker Dennis Hastert led the process, nominating former Republican U.S. Rep. James Hansen of Utah amd former Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner of Illinois to the commission. Skinner is also known for his tenure as chief of staff to President George H. W. Bush.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist named two Virginia military men, John G. Coburn, a retired four-star Army general, and Harold W. Gehman Jr., a retired Navy admiral.

Two more have been nominated, sort of. Though she only gets one pick, California Rep. Nancy Pelosi has named retired Rep. Vic Fazio and Wade Sanders, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense. Both men are from California.

“In an ideal world, where a commissioner is from should make no difference,” said Capt. Ralph Dean, one of the volunteers working to keep Brunswick Naval Air Station open.

After all, the commissioners are charged with making changes to the Pentagon’s proposal only if a mistake is found – if a base’s military value has been wrongly graded.

There will be plenty of chances for such mistakes to be pointed out. Public hearings are scheduled to take months. The group’s list is due to go to Congress in September.

“This commission will have a difficult mission, vitally important to our nation’s defense and security,” Maine’s congressional delegation said Thursday.

By law, six nominees come from congressional leaders: two from the speaker of the House, two from the Senate majority leader, one from the House minority leader and one from the Senate minority leader.

The remaining three nominees come from the president and are due on March 15.