Cranston Raised $3.3 Million in ’85 for Campaign; $6 Million Is Target

Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) raised $2.1 million in the last six months of 1985 for his 1986 reelection campaign, copies of federal election reports show.

In all, the senator raised $3.3 million in 1985--a very good year even for Cranston, one of the most effective fund-raisers in U.S. Senate history.

“We are pleased but we must raise more,” said Cranston campaign manager Darry Sragow. “We think Alan will need about $6 million to win in November.”

Cranston’s spending reports show that he raised $1.8 million from 78,000 people who made contributions of less than $200 each, indicating that the senator has a broad base of support.

Some of this was raised over the phone by Gordon & Schwenkmeyer, a Los Angeles telemarketing firm with ties to many Democratic activists in California. Another chunk was pulled in with fund-raising letters sent out by AB Data of Milwaukee.

Cranston’s chief fund-raiser, Joy Jacobson, said she chose AB Data to do the direct mail because it has “one of the best Jewish lists in the country.” Cranston, 71, who was once sued by Adolf Hitler and who has been a staunch supporter of Israel, has long enjoyed strong financial support from Jews.

Cranston’s spending reports for 1985 also show that he had 4,000 “major givers”--individuals who contributed more than $200 each. By federal law, an individual may give $1,000 to a candidate in the primary and another $1,000 in the general election.

Cranston has acknowledged that he spent much of his time soliciting major givers, and others were rounded up by Cathy Unger and Beverly Thomas, two fund-raisers with strong ties to liberal Democrats on Los Angeles’ West Side.

Among the major givers were actors Jason Robards, Jack Lemmon, Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase; Playboy Magazine publisher Hugh Hefner; movie producers David Begelman and Alan Ladd; motion picture executives Michael Eisner of Disney Studios and Sidney Sheinberg of Universal Studios; and Louis E. Wolfson, the Florida racehorse breeder who once spent nine months in prison for violating U.S. securities laws.

Sragow said that most of the individual contributions came from Californians, but he added that Cranston’s unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1984 provided him with many new contributors in other states.

The senator reported receiving $520,000 from political action committees in 1985. Many of these contributions came from banking and savings and loan groups.

Cranston is the the No. 2 Democrat on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. Should the Democrats regain control of the Senate this November, the banking committee’s senior Democrat, Sen. William Proxmire of Wisconsin, would be expected to become chairman of the Appropriations Committee, with Cranston becoming chairman of the Banking Committee.

The Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee has said that it intends to provide $1.6 million to Cranston’s opponent. That support, the maximum allowed by law, would be a line of credit for the Republican nominee. It can be drawn on to pay for television commercials, mailings and newspaper ads, among other things.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which raises about one-tenth the amount of money as its Republican counterpart, says it cannot hope to provide Cranston with a comparable line of credit. So far the committee has given Cranston $17,500, the spending reports indicate.

Cranston’s cash on hand as of Dec. 31 was $1.9 million. Sragow said the about $1.4 million spent by the campaign in 1985 went for direct mail and telemarketing costs, office rental and staff salaries.

When Cranston ran for President two years ago, his campaign bounced some checks in the final days before his withdrawal from the Democratic race in late February. But Sragow said Thursday, “I’ll be astounded if you get a call from a vendor who isn’t being paid in this (Senate) campaign.”