THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, January 7, 1995              TAG: 9501070234
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                         LENGTH: Medium:   53 lines

CALIF. TOPS LIST, WHILE VA. ISN'T REPRESENTED

Vote-rich California apparently has whipped Virginia, 3-0, in jockeying to place friendly faces on the federal commission that later this year will consider the fate of hundreds of military bases nationwide.

President Clinton is set to nominate three Golden State natives or residents to the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission. The move reflects California's political importance as the nation's most populous state and its status as home to the nation's largest concentration of military facilities.

Virginia, far smaller than California but second in military presence, claimed no seats on the commission. The state's congressional delegation had suggested several possible nominees, pushing hardest for Patrick Tucker, a lobbyist with Tenneco Inc., parent company of Newport News Shipbuilding.

Clinton is expected to announce the nominees formally next week. But the president has a free hand to fill only two of the eight seats on the commission; the others were recommended by Republican and Democratic congressional leaders.

The commission, to be evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, will evaluate base-closing recommendations to be submitted in March by the Pentagon. This is the fourth and last scheduled round of closings, which were begun as the military started downsizing in the aftermath of the Cold War. MEMO: These people, if confirmed by the Senate, would decide the fate of

area military installations in the 1995 base-closing process:

Alan Dixon, commission chairman, former U.S. senator from Illinois

(nominated by President Clinton)

Al Corrella, Rapid City, S.D., businessman (Senate Minority Leader

Tom Daschle, South Dakota)

Rebecca Cox, member, 1993 base closing panel; wife of Rep.

Christopher Cox, R-Calif. (House Speaker Newt Gingrich)

J.B. Davis, retired Air Force general, Tampa area (Gingrich).

Lee Kling, St. Louis banker, Democratic Party fund-raiser (House

Minority Leader Richard Gephart, Mo.)

Benjamin Franklin Montoya, retired rear admiral from Sacramento,

Calif., area (President Clinton)

Wendi Steele, Houston, former congressional liaison for 1991 base

closing commission (Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, Kan.)

Michael Stone, San Francisco, former Army secretary (Dole).

KEYWORDS: BRAC COMMISSION BASE CLOSURE AND REALIGNMENT COMMISSION

MILITARY BASES by CNB