Join the Illinois effort to seal the deal on NGA

As the date for the decision on where to move NGA West draws near, fear and politics are reaching a crescendo. So how do we help seal the deal when the city of St. Louis is pulling every trick in the book to keep the facility? What tricks am I referring to? Well, St. Louis has started a petition of We the People website to “Enforce Presidential Executive Order 12072, and select North St. Louis City as the home of the new NGA West headquarters,” which currently has nearly 2,800 signatures.

I have created a petition on the site, https://petitions.whitehouse.gov to tentatively name the proposed St. Clair County site for NGA the “Barack H. Obama National Geospatial Intelligence Agency Facility West.” By signing this petition, we will suggest naming the site after our most famous former Illinois senator, and current president. This action, if approved, would unite liberals and conservatives in the fight to bring these jobs to St. Clair County, where as many letters to the editor have already stated, is the logical (i.e. not political) location for this facility.

So join with me in this most important effort to solidify the federal footprint in St. Clair County and help keep Scott Air Force Base safe from future base closures.

This story was originally published February 6, 2016 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Join the Illinois effort to seal the deal on NGA."