Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 28, 1991 TAG: 9102280518
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/3 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Cranston, D-Calif., is fighting the allegations, while his colleagues are trumpeting the conclusion of their cases.
The six-member committee's unanimous report Wednesday set the stage for possible censure of Cranston by the full Senate.
The panel said it found "substantial credible evidence" that "Senator Cranston engaged in an impermissible pattern of conduct in which fund-raising and official activities were substantially linked."
The committee, even while ending the four other cases, said Sens. Donald Riegle, D-Mich., and Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz., "gave the appearance of being improper" in their actions on behalf of former savings and loan owner Charles Keating.
Sens. John Glenn, D-Ohio, and John McCain, R-Ariz., "exercised poor judgment," the committee concluded. But it said the two "violated no law . . . or specific rule" of the Senate.
The panel did not repeat such a statement for Riegle and DeConcini, concluding instead that "no further action is warranted."
Keating and his associates donated $1.3 million to the campaigns and political causes of the five senators, most of it while the Federal Home Loan Bank Board was conducting its examination of Keating's now-failed Lincoln Savings and Loan of Irvine, Calif.
Lincoln was seized by federal regulators in April 1989 at a potential cost to taxpayers of more than $2 billion to cover insured deposits.
The 14-month investigation was triggered by a complaint from the public interest group Common Cause. Its president, Fred Wertheimer, called the decision "a damning indictment of the committee" because "all five senators in the Keating affair are culpable."
Wertheimer called the action on DeConcini and Riegle "indefensible and inexcusable" and said the findings on Glenn and McCain "cannot be justified."
The Ethics Committee findings against Cranston constitute a required statement detailing the specific charges against him - similar to an indictment. He now has a chance to respond and can request a hearing.
Cranston - who says he won't seek re-election next year - gave only an opening statement during two months of public hearings in the case. He did not testify because he was being treated for prostate cancer in California.
The committee said Cranston "may have engaged in improper conduct that may reflect upon the Senate" - a catchall charge covering general ethical misconduct. After Cranston responds, the committee can recommend action by the full Senate to censure the chamber's former assistant majority leader.
Cranston said, "It's clear that I have been unfairly singled out, despite the evidence in all five cases."
McCain repeated statements that his intervention with regulators on Keating's behalf was "a mistake." But, he said, "Clearly, `no improper conduct' is what is important here, and I view that as full exoneration."
Riegle pronounced himself "gratified to be cleared of any wrongdoing." He added, "I accept the committee's view that an appearance of a conflict of interest was created by the proximity of legal campaign contributions to otherwise proper conduct."
Glenn said, "I have been vindicated, just as I said I would be from the very outset of this investigation."
And DeConcini told reporters, "I'm relieved that the committee found this senator violated no rule, no law, and that even aggressiveness is appropriate at certain times."
by CNB