Closing Bases Will Hurt State, Clinton Told : Conference: UC economist warns nearby states would suffer too. President expresses concern about fairness of shutdowns.

The Clinton Administration should delay the closing of major California military bases and provide federal grants to the state to cover the costs of absorbing thousands of legal and illegal immigrants, a noted University of California economist told President Clinton on Tuesday.

Speaking at a daylong White House-sponsored conference in Portland on the Pacific Rim economy, Kenneth Rosen of UC Berkeley said the costs of unchecked immigration and defense cutbacks threaten the fragile economic recovery in California.

Rosen warned that if California slips back into recession, it could drag down the economies of several neighboring states, which he referred to as “Greater California” because of the size and regional impact of the state’s economy.

Clinton responded that military bases must close as the U.S. military shrinks, but expressed concern that the recommended closing of two major California bases--McClellan Air Force Base near Sacramento and the Long Beach Naval Shipyard--could have a disproportionate and unfair effect on the state.

Clinton made no commitment on the fate of the two bases, which the bipartisan Base Closure Commission has recommended scrapping. But his remarks indicated that he is leaning strongly toward rejecting the commission’s list when it reaches his desk next week.

The comments were among the deluge of words expended during the Portland conference, which brought together 200 executives, workers and private citizens to address economic issues from the depleted Pacific salmon fishery to the high-stakes trade dispute with Japan over automobile exports.

Clinton came to Portland to listen to concerns over the economy and government policy, and he got an earful.

Sitting in shirt sleeves and peering over his metal-framed reading glasses, Clinton again showed his stamina for hours of inconclusive talk by listening patiently to complaints about the plight of the family farmer, the pernicious effect of television on girls’ self-esteem, “truly weird and stupid” government regulations, the low national savings rate and the paucity of lending capital in America’s inner cities.

The session was the third in a series of White House conferences on regional economic conditions, after similar powwows in Georgia and Iowa earlier this year.

White House officials said beforehand that the meetings would not change Administration policy, but would provide an opportunity for the President to escape the ideological wars of Washington and hear the concerns of ordinary Americans.

“I think it is important to do these things because, too often, the further you get away from the grass-roots in America, the more theoretical and the less practical the debates become,” Clinton said in remarks opening the conference.

The meeting at Portland State University drew an assortment of protesters, including a sizable group of employees of local Japanese car dealerships who assailed Clinton for the tough line that he is taking in trade talks now reaching their climax in Geneva.

Many held black balloons symbolizing the jobs that would be lost in the heavily trade-dependent Northwest if Clinton follows through on his threat to impose 100% sanctions on 13 Japanese luxury car models.

Some held signs reading, “Just Say No to Trade Sanctions” and “We’ll Remember in November.”

Other protesters criticized the Administration’s timber policies and Clinton’s support of gay rights.

But inside the hall, politeness reigned, as dozens of panelists told the President of concerns about their jobs and their families in a time of economic transition.

Harry Kubo, a Japanese American farmer from Fresno, urged Clinton to institute more liberal farm labor policies, saying that California farmers need thousands of “guest workers” to harvest crops year-round. He said the government could enforce immigration laws for migrant laborers by withholding a portion of their salaries and remitting it to the workers only when they return to Mexico.

He also implicitly criticized Clinton’s hard-line approach to trade with Japan, saying that Americans lack an understanding of Japanese business and society.

“Japan has studied this country so thoroughly; we know nothing about Japan,” Kubo said. “For every 15 students they send here, we send barely one there. There’s no exchange; it’s so one-sided. I think we had better understand what Japan is all about.”

Carlton Jenkins, chairman of Los Angeles’ Founders National Bank, the only African American-owned bank in California, expressed disappointment with Clinton’s lack of attention to the capital needs of inner-city residents.

He praised the President for his dedication to welfare reform and gun control, but added: “The same energy needs to be focused on the whole issue of the urban community and the inner city.

“The biggest problem is the perception that these are risky places to lend money. Changing that perception can start with you,” Jenkins said.