AMHERST - The Pentagon used flawed data, exaggerated potential savings and strayed from base-closing guidelines in recommending the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station for closure, state leaders told members of a commission that will decide the base's fate.

"This is a decision that runs afoul of what BRAC is supposed to do," said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., after testifying Monday before four members of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission charged with restructuring the nation's military bases.

U.S. Rep. Thomas Reynolds, R-N.Y., said the Air Force had "fabricated" $17 million in personnel savings to justify the cost of closing the base and that it was just one of several incorrect figures factored into the decision. He said closing the base could actually cost more than keeping it open.

Meanwhile, the base's proximity to the U.S.-Canadian border and its benefits to homeland security - a factor in base-closing guidelines - were ignored, commissioners were told.

Members of the commission spent the morning touring the base, Niagara County's second-largest employer, before hearing four hours of testimony on recommendations related to bases in New York and Ohio.

Hundreds of flag- and sign-toting base supporters greeted the group at each stop.

Communities around the country have been trying to save bases targeted for closure after the Pentagon issued its recommendations in mid-May. The nine-member BRAC commission, which has the authority to make changes to the closure list, will forward its version to the president in September.

Past base closure commissions have accepted about 85 percent of the military's recommendations.

Pentagon plans to consolidate offices of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service drew fire from both the New York and Ohio lawmakers. Cleveland stands to lose more than 1,000 jobs, while 290 jobs or more would be lost in Rome.

"Cleveland has one of the highest unemployment rates of any major city in America ... The loss of that facility would be like a tornado cutting through the economy of northeast Ohio," said Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio.

Ohio would lose another 1,000 jobs at an Air National Guard Base in Mansfield, though the state overall would see a net gain of 241 personnel.

Commissioner Lloyd "Fig" Newton, a retired Air Force general, said the commission's decisions would be based on law and devoid of politics.

"Be assured, we're not conducting this review as an exercise in sterile cost accounting," Newton said. "This commission is committed to conducting a clear-eyed reality check that we know will not only shape our military capabilities for decades to come but also have profound effects on our communities and on the people who bring our communities to life."

The Niagara Falls base, with nearly 3,000 full- and part-time employees and a $50 million payroll, generates an estimated $150 million in economic activity in the struggling region, supporters said.

"The closure of the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station would directly destroy 3.5 percent of the county's job base, 2 percent of its gross county product and 8.5 percent of its payroll," testified Richard DeWitt of the Niagara Military Affairs Council, a coalition of business and community members.

Early in the BRAC process, the Niagara base was on track to gain personnel and equipment, elected officials said, and was a late addition to the closure list.

"The last-minute decision to add Niagara to the closure list came out of the blue. We really still cannot get to the bottom of it," Clinton said.

"Niagara Falls was one of the last bases put on the list for closure," Gov. George Pataki told the commissioners. "It should be one of the first to come off."