BANKING / FINANCE
Campaign Funds: The U.S. senators caught in the web of controversy over their aiding Lincoln Savings & Loan would help the former operators of the Irvine-based S&L; if they would return more than $175,000 in campaign funds, some observers say.
As one lawyer put it, the money would go back to its donors--Charles H. Keating Jr., his family and associates, many of whom could use the pocket change to help defend themselves against a civil bank fraud lawsuit that regulators filed against them after Lincoln collapsed.
The senators argue that they did nothing wrong, and three of them--Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), John McCain (R-Ariz.) and John Glenn (D-Ohio)--have so far refused to return campaign funds contributed by the Keating group.
The others--Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.) and Donald W. Riegle Jr. (D-Mich.)--have returned a total of more than $125,000.
Keating is chairman of American Continental Corp. in Phoenix, which was the owner of Lincoln. American Continental filed for bankruptcy April 13, and regulators seized Lincoln the next day.
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