Point Mugu Backers Push Their Fight to Save Base : Military: U.S. panel schedules a hearing for next week in San Francisco. Gallegly urges an official visit to the local Navy installation before then.

Point Mugu supporters on Monday began feverishly preparing their arguments to save the Navy base as a federal commission scheduled a regional hearing next week in San Francisco to take public comments on which bases to keep and which to close.

“We don’t have much time,” said county Supervisor John K. Flynn about the May 25 hearing. “We’ve got to pull together a lot of information and put together a presentation that impresses the commission.”

Meanwhile on Monday, Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) fired off a letter to the base-closing commission, complaining that its staff is treating Point Mugu unfairly by not scheduling a tour of the base for a commissioner until after the regional hearing.

“Clearly, this will place Point Mugu at a distinct disadvantage insofar as none of the commissioners will have the knowledge or experience derived from a site visit and briefing at the time of received testimony at the hearing on May 25,” Gallegly wrote.

Commissioner Benjamin F. Montoya, a former Navy admiral who used to be stationed at Port Hueneme, is tentatively set to visit Point Mugu on May 31, said commission spokesman Wade Nelson.

“That date is not set in concrete,” Nelson said. “But even if it were after the hearing . . . we don’t think that the date of the visit has any kind of negative impact on the community’s ability to make its arguments.”

Nelson said the commission staff is juggling dozens of visits in just a few weeks for the eight commissioners.

The commissioners, who voted last week to add Point Mugu and 34 other military installations to the Pentagon’s recommended closure list, have until July 1 to complete their work and forward their final recommendations to President Clinton. The list now totals 180 military facilities.

Nelson also said that Les Farrington, a commission staff member, began a fact-finding mission Monday at Point Mugu’s sister base at China Lake in the Mojave Desert. He will tour Point Mugu today.

Farrington is exploring the feasibility of moving most of Point Mugu’s missile-testing operations to China Lake--an idea raised by a controversial Pentagon audit.

The audit contends that the Navy could save $1.7 billion over 20 years by combining overlapping programs at the two bases. The Navy sharply disputes the audit’s finding, saying it was based on inaccurate data and incorrect assumptions.

Gallegly said he will give the commission a few days to respond to his request to reschedule Montoya’s visit to a date before the hearing.

“Some may say it’s being a little bit overly critical or cautious,” Gallegly said. “But I don’t think you can be overly cautious. I think we need to make sure we take every opportunity to support Point Mugu.”

A countywide task force of Point Mugu backers will continue meeting today to polish a presentation for the San Francisco hearing.

The hearing will be the task force’s only chance to comment on the proposal to close Point Mugu and to scatter its 9,000 jobs to other bases.

Members of the group have spent months preparing to defend Point Mugu on the basis of its value to the nation’s military as a missile-testing center and to the county as its biggest employer.

“We don’t lack the information,” Flynn said. “We’ve got to pull it all together.”