Uses More Than $1.6 Million, Twice Amount of Any Other Senator : Cranston Top Spender in Writing Voters

Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) spent more than $1.6 million in taxpayer funds--more than twice as much as any other U.S. senator--on mass mailings to California voters in the three-month period ending Sept. 30, a Senate report disclosed Monday.

Cranston, who is facing a tough reelection battle next year, spent $1,631,831.95 to mail 6.4 million newsletters and 5 million announcements of the 12 community forums that he conducted throughout the state during August.

‘Reasonable Investment’

“That’s a lot of money, and it’s easy to get excited about,” Cranston acknowledged in a statement. But he noted that $1.6 million amounts to only 6 cents per constituent in California, and that he ranked 14th in spending on a per-constituent basis. California is the nation’s most populous state with 26 million people.

“I am sure my fellow Californians will agree with me that 6 cents per person is a reasonable investment for communicating with their senator,” Cranston said.

Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.), who is not up for reelection until 1988, spent only $10,459.69--or .04 of a cent per constituent.

Cranston noted that 13 other senators spent a total of $3 million to communicate with 27.4 million constituents. “In other words,” he said, “these 13 senators spent nearly twice as much money as I to communicate with roughly the same number of constituents.”

First Time Published

A number of Republicans already have announced their intention to seek their party’s nomination to challenge Cranston. They include Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, Rep. Ed Zschau of Los Altos, Rep. William E. Dannemeyer of Fullerton and economist Arthur Laffer. So far, Cranston has no major opponent in the Democratic primary.

It was the first time in history that the Senate has published the expenditures of senators on mass mailing and the report was delayed several weeks by several senators who opposed the move. The so-called franking privilege, which allows members of Congress to send mail to constituents at taxpayer expense, is one of the most cherished perquisites of office.

Opponents of mass mailings had let it be known that one senator spent $3.8 million--or about 10% of the Senate’s entire postal bill--in 1984, but they refused to identify the lawmaker. Cranston denied that he was the biggest spender in 1984.

During the current fiscal year, it is estimated that Congress will spend a record $144.4 million on mass mailings. This figure covers all mail addressed to “postal patron” and does not include mail addressed to specific constitiuents.

Cranston’s expenditure was more than double the spending of the Senate’s second-biggest spender, Sen. Arlen K. Specter (R-Pa.), who also is facing a tough reelection battle. Specter spent $789,189.03--or 6.6 cents per constituent.

Heinz Ranks Third

Another Pennsylvania senator, Republican John Heinz, was third with $646,025.30. Other leading spenders included Sens. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), $603,894.60, and Donald W. Riegle Jr. (D-Mich.), $503,511.83. Twenty-two senators spent nothing.

The Senate Rules Committee voted last May to require publication of the mass-mailing expenses. Publication of the report was held up for several weeks because many senators objected to it, but Secretary of the Senate Jo-Anne L. Coe decided to proceed with publication after seeking a legal opinion from the Senate counsel.