Ethics Panel Votes for Review of Charges Against 5 Senators : Lincoln S&L;: Cranston is among those accused of improperly intervening with federal regulators. An outside counsel is hired to study allegations.

The Senate Ethics Committee voted unanimously Friday to have an outside counsel review influence-peddling allegations against Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) and four other senators in connection with the $2-billion failure of Lincoln Savings and Loan of Irvine.

The committee voted also to have the special counsel investigate similar complaints against Sen. Alfonse M. D’Amato (R-N.Y.) resulting from scandal at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Robert S. Bennett, a Washington attorney who has specialized in white-collar crime, was hired to help the committee determine whether it should proceed with a preliminary inquiry, the first of three stages of investigation the panel could pursue.

Cranston and Sens. Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), John Glenn (D-Ohio) and Donald W. Riegle Jr. (D-Mich.) are accused of improperly intervening with federal regulators on behalf of Lincoln after receiving political contributions from its owner, Charles H. Keating Jr.

D’Amato is accused of using improper influence in federal housing programs on behalf of political contributors and friends.

Meanwhile, a member of the House Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee said that the panel has been informed that Keating plans to invoke the 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination when he is called to testify Tuesday about Lincoln’s collapse and his dealings with the five senators.

Rep. Richard H. Lehman (D-Sanger) said that fellow members of the committee had been told of Keating’s intentions, but a spokesman for the Arizona businessman said he did not believe a final decision had been made.

Bradley J. Boland, a spokesman for Lincoln’s parent company, American Continental Corp., said that Keating had been urged by a number of advisers to decline to testify. He said that American Continental executives believe that the House hearing does not provide a fair forum.

Keating, under FBI investigation on fraud and other allegations, has said in court documents that he expects to be indicted for his role in the Lincoln case.

Cranston said that he did not think the Ethics Committee needed to hire an outside counsel because “as numerous legal precedents have shown, I did not violate any laws, ethical standards or rules of the Senate.”

But he said that the appointment of Bennett, brother of William J. Bennett, the top official in the Administration’s war on drugs, “will further promote confidence in the Senate’s process for reviewing the conduct of its members.”

Cranston and his colleagues have been accused by Common Cause, a political action lobby, of improperly helping Keating with federal regulators in 1987. Keating and his associates had contributed about $1.3 million to campaigns and other causes supported by the senators.

McCain said in a statement: “I am confident that an investigation will vindicate my repeated statements that I never abused my office nor took actions that were improper.”

DeConcini said: “I welcome anything that will establish the facts and I will cooperate fully.”

Meanwhile, it was learned that DeConcini not only discussed Lincoln with federal regulators, he also telephoned the boss of California’s top savings and loan regulator on behalf of Keating in April, 1988.

At the time, Keating was trying to sell the Irvine firm before federal agents could seize it. William J. Crawford, California’s savings and loan commissioner, had rejected the proposed deal, and Keating was seeking federal approval instead.

In an interview Friday, Crawford said that DeConcini sought assurances from his boss, John K. Geoghegan, that Crawford would keep his objections to the sale quiet.

Crawford said that Geoghegan, a member of Gov. George Deukmejian’s cabinet, did not try to silence him and that he continued to oppose the transaction. The deal was rejected by federal regulators, too, and Lincoln was seized by the government last April 14.

It will cost the federal government an estimated $2 billion to bail out Lincoln, making it the most expensive thrift failure ever.

Staff writers Douglas Frantz in Washington, James Bates in Los Angeles and James S. Granelli in Orange County contributed to this story.