Cranston Will Wed Wife No. 3, Ex-Campaign Aide

At age 75 and with his career threatened by political scandal, Sen. Alan Cranston has been bitten by romance and has taken out a license to marry a Beverly Hills woman--his third wife.

For some months, Cranston has been rumored to have been seeing Cathy Lee Pattiz, 49, a former campaign worker and a member of a well-connected family that has been a strong supporter of his. He has declined to publicly confirm the romance, and on Tuesday his office said he would not comment on his marriage plans.

But the Santa Clara County clerk’s office said Cranston and Pattiz obtained a marriage license in Palo Alto on Monday.

One press account quoted Pattiz as saying the wedding would be held the day before Christmas at the Los Altos Hills home of Cranston’s sister. A Northern California honeymoon is reportedly planned.

Cranston’s marriage to his second wife, Norma, ended in divorce last May after 10 years. She suffers from a long-term battle with Parkinson’s disease. Before that, he had a long-term marriage and two children with his first wife, Geneva. They divorced in 1977, and she subsequently died. One son, Kim, survives.

Cranston met his bride-to-be during his first senatorial campaign in 1968 when she was a volunteer. She also worked on his 1986 reelection.

The 21-year Senate veteran is mired in the scandal surrounding Lincoln Savings & Loan and its chairman, Charles Keating Jr. Keating contributed $850,000 to Cranston for his reelection and for voter registration drives. Cranston, who holds the Democrats’ No. 2 leadership position in the U.S. Senate, then intervened on Keating’s behalf with federal regulators. The S & L subsequently failed amid charges that investors were swindled.

Cranston has denied any wrongdoing and is pursuing plans to mount a 1992 reelection campaign. But a list of potential Democratic rivals seems to grow with every passing day. Within the last week, the familiar list of would-be rivals, composed mostly of members of the U.S. House, has grown with the name of Assembly Speaker Willie Brown Jr.

Times researcher Kristen Christopher contributed to this story.