Donations Fall 35% as Cranston Draws Fire : Politics: Contributions dropped sharply during the second half of 1989, when the senator was under attack for his role on behalf of Lincoln Savings & Loan.

Political fund-raising by Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) fell by more than a third in the second half of 1989, when he came under fire for his efforts on behalf of Lincoln Savings & Loan, according to a report submitted to the Federal Election Commission.

Cranston’s report shows that in 1989 he raised a total of $910,141 for his 1992 Senate reelection campaign--$551,970 in the first half of the year and $358,171 in the second half.

Political action committees contributed $170,000 to Cranston in 1989, or about 19% of his total receipts. The rest came in large contributions from individual donors, most of them businessmen from across the country.

Fewer than 1% of Cranston’s contributions were in small amounts of less than $250.

Although the report shows that Cranston’s receipts fell off 35% in the second half of the year, campaign manager Kam Kuwata said he did not know whether the drop-off could be attributed entirely to the bad publicity Cranston has received for intervening with federal regulators on behalf of Lincoln. But he acknowledged, “People have been affected by it to some degree.”

Cranston has said he was distracted from his campaign fund-raising last year by allegations that he used his influence on behalf of Lincoln owner Charles H. Keating Jr., a wealthy contributor. But he also said he has received some money from people who contributed primarily because they thought the allegations against him are a bum rap.

Both the Senate Ethics Committee and the Justice Department are investigating the role played by Cranston and four others senators who intervened with the Federal Home Loan Bank Board in 1987, at a time when Lincoln was under investigation for allegations of mismanagement. The Irvine thrift collapsed two years later, leaving taxpayers to pick up $2 billion in unpaid debts to depositors.

While working on Lincoln’s behalf, Cranston solicited contributions from Keating for his campaign and other causes. Lincoln and Keating gave $850,000 to three voter-registration organizations identified with Cranston, about $35,000 to Cranston’s 1986 Senate campaign and $85,000 solicited by Cranston for the California Democratic Party in 1986.

Although Cranston’s reelection bid is still two years away, the money he has raised so far falls far short of the $13.5 million he spent in 1986. Moreover, the FEC report shows that he already has spent $433,244 from his campaign fund during 1989, much of it on fund-raising activities. That leaves him with a campaign balance of $543,426.

He also used $25,000 of the money to satisfy old debts from his unsuccessful 1984 presidential campaign.

But Kuwata noted that Cranston’s campaign has more cash on hand now than he had at a comparable point before his 1986 reelection bid, when the senator was saddled with enormous debts from his presidential campaign.

As a ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, Cranston has traditionally relied on executives in the financial services industry to contribute to his campaigns, and last year was no exception. At least $12,000 of his political action committee contributions in the last half of 1989 came from financial groups.

A substantial number of Cranston’s contributors during the latter half of 1989 live in the Chicago area, where the senator attended a fund-raising dinner hosted by Nathan Shapiro, whose family controls the insurance firm of Baldwin & Lyons. Shapiro contributed $2,000, as did several other members of his family.

Another Chicagoan, Judd Malkin, chairman of JBM Realty, a real estate investment firm, was also a big contributor in 1989. JBM’s political action committee gave $2,000 to the Cranston campaign, while Malkin and six other members of his family each kicked in $1,000.

Bert Glazov, executive vice president of JMB Realty, said the Malkins contributed to Cranston primarily because they think he is a “good senator” and share his liberal views on a variety of national policy issues. “I don’t think any of us have ever talked to Sen. Cranston about business,” he said.

Among Cranston’s Southern California contributors were Jack Shine of Encino, president of the First Financial Group of Companies, who along with his wife, Loretta, gave $4,000; Leonard Friedman of San Diego, a real estate investor, $2,000; Robert Greenberg, president of LA Gear, $2,000; Robert G. Solomon, president of Applause, a stuffed animal manufacturer, $2,000.

The entertainment industry also was represented on the list. Michael Eisner, chairman of Walt Disney Co., and his wife, Jane, contributed $4,000 to Cranston, and three other top Disney executives, Neil McCarthy, Lawrence P. Murphy and Frank G. Wells, contributed $500 each.