Delegation Still Hopeful About Keeping Bases : Closures: Several state congressional members claim that the Pentagon’s list of sites may be altered and that some installations in California will be spared.

In the face of growing certainty that nine major California military bases will be proposed for closure today, some members of the California delegation Thursday were claiming that the Pentagon’s list of sites may be altered.

Rep. Jane Harman (D-Marina del Rey) said Wednesday that she “had reason to believe that (Long Beach Naval Shipyard) was not on the list” and reaffirmed that position Thursday. Harman, a freshman member of the House Armed Services Committee, would not characterize the source of her information.

“Even if this works out, the shipyard is still at some risk,” Harman said, referring to the long base-closure process that leaves open the possibility of sites being added later.

“But I’m increasingly encouraged,” she said.

Also on Thursday, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said she is hopeful that Defense Secretary Les Aspin will not recommend the permanent closure of all the California bases.

Boxer said Aspin indicated Thursday in a meeting with her and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that reports that all nine bases would be on the secretary’s list “may not be accurate.”

“I am a little bit encouraged by what I heard this morning,” Boxer said. “I still think we are going to see California bases on the list, but . . . there is hope they may not be all on that list.”

Asked whether she thought the list would change, Feinstein said: “My feeling for the list is intense coolness. I don’t like the list at all. I hope (Aspin) is listening. I think he is. We’ll see.”

A Sacramento TV station reported late Thursday that McClellan Air Force Base had been spared, but the report could not be confirmed. A spokeswoman for Rep. Vic Fazio (D-West Sacramento) said the report was “wonderful news--if it’s true.”

The eleventh-hour optimism comes at the end of a week of intense delegation lobbying on behalf of the threatened bases and shipyards. With California reeling from high unemployment and earlier defense cutbacks, the 54-member state Congressional delegation seized on the issue with a vengeance.

Both senators made floor speeches urging special consideration be given to states such as California that have high unemployment. And Feinstein and Fazio introduced resolutions urging the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission to place greater emphasis on the economic impact to local communities.

One California Republican sent a letter Wednesday arguing against the resolution. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of Huntington Beach said the bases’ military value and cost-savings should take precedence-- as they do now under the commission’s criteria.

“I would ask that you . . . oppose efforts to turn it into a contest about whose economic conditions are worse,” Rohrabacher wrote.

In Sacramento, Democratic Assembly Speaker Willie Brown said the Clinton Administration may be prepared to soften the blow of proposed California base closures by transferring the properties at no cost to local governments or other public entities.

Speaking Thursday after returning from a trip to Washington with other legislators, Brown (D-San Francisco) said: “I don’t think there is any reason for Californians to panic about the impending base closure process. The President was so riveted on it and sensitive to it that it was almost as if he were a Californian.”

In a report to his Assembly colleagues, Brown said Clinton indicated that he was inclined to allow closed federal bases to be turned over free to local governments that have good land use plans or to public entities, such as to colleges and universities for use as campuses.

Gov. Pete Wilson has said pending and previously announced base closures could cost California 329,900 jobs and $11 billion in lost annual salaries.

In a related matter, an expected announcement about sites for several regional Defense Department finance and accounting centers nationwide was thrown into doubt by reports that the Pentagon had decided to kill the program. San Bernardino is one of 20 cities competing for the complexes, which would bring 4,000 new jobs to the Inland Empire.

Spokesmen for Wilson and Rep. George E. Brown Jr. (D-Colton) said they had heard rumors and were uncertain what today’s announcement would bring.

On another subject, Brown said he is optimistic that California would receive about $900 million in federal funds to help pay for state services to immigrants and refugees.

Washington officials had announced that $500 million would be forthcoming. Brown said the figure “may approach the $900 million the Congressional delegation is focusing on.” The source of the other $400 million in federal aid was unclear.

Staff writer Glenn F. Bunting contributed to this report.

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