Cranston Says He Won’t Return Funds Raised by Owner of S

Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) said Tuesday he will not return the money collected for his 1986 reelection campaign by Charles H. Keating, owner of Irvine-based Lincoln Savings & Loan, even though two other senators have done so.

Cranston was responding to Sen. Dennis DeConcini’s decision, announced Monday, to return $48,000 in contributions collected for him by Keating. DeConcini and Cranston were among five senators who received money raised by Keating and later met with officials of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board on behalf of Lincoln.

DeConcini said that he decided to give the money back after federal regulators filed a $1.1-million fraud and racketeering civil lawsuit against Keating last Friday. He said that he did so because the suit “raises the serious possibility that money from Lincoln Savings may have been illegally funneled” into the campaigns of the senators.

The Arizona Democrat wrote personal checks to repay the money Tuesday.

But Cranston’s spokesman, Murray Flander, said that the suit does nothing to change the position of the California senator, who has said that he did nothing illegal by accepting money raised by Keating. Cranston received $39,000 in campaign donations raised by Keating, who also contributed about $800,000 to voter registration drives supported by the senator.