Cranston Aide Failed to Report Free Europe Trip : Ethics: Carolyn D. Jordan risks a fine for not disclosing her travel with a finance industry lobbyist. The incident could mean more trouble for her boss.

Carolyn D. Jordan, Sen. Alan Cranston’s top adviser on banking and financial issues, took a nine-day, all-expenses-paid trip to Europe in 1987 with a financial industry lobbyist and failed to disclose it as required by law, she acknowledged Friday.

The trip, which was approved by the California Democratic senator, took Jordan to London, Paris and Switzerland at the expense of Robert Royer, then a lobbyist for Swiss bankers and the U.S. securities industry. They were accompanied by an aide to Sen. Alfonse M. D’Amato (R-N.Y.).

It is not illegal for congressional staff members to accept free trips from lobbyists unless they fail to disclose them on annual financial reports filed the following year.

Disclosure of the unreported trip could cause more political embarrassment for Cranston, who is under investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee on charges of improperly intervening with the government on behalf of Lincoln Savings & Loan owner Charles H. Keating Jr. while accepting campaign and other contributions from Keating.

Jordan, who has worked for Cranston for 19 years and represents the senator on the staff of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, also played a role in the Keating affair. Federal and state officials have said that they were contacted by Jordan on Keating’s behalf in early 1989.

According to reliable committee sources, Jordan has long had a close working relationship with securities industry officials and sometimes has promoted legislation on their behalf.

Jordan acknowledged the European trip in an amended 1987 financial disclosure report, which was made available Friday by the Senate Office of Public Records. In a letter accompanying the amended report, Jordan said that she was filing it in response to a recent inquiry from The Times, which had learned about the trip from other sources.

Jordan’s letter said that information about the trip had been “inadvertently left off” her original 1987 financial disclosure report, which she filed two years ago. She could not be reached for additional comment.

Wilson R. Abney, chief counsel of the Senate Ethics Committee, said that congressional staff members who willfully fail to report trips and other gifts from lobbyists risk a fine of as much as $5,000. But he noted that few people have been prosecuted under this provision of the law.

Under the 1978 Ethics in Government Act, members of Congress and top congressional staff members are required to file annual financial disclosure reports every May 15 for the previous year.

Jordan, who filed both her 1987 and 1988 reports long after the May 15 deadline, still has not submitted a report for last year. On Friday, she was notified in writing by Abney that she had missed the deadline for filing her 1989 report.

Royer, who in 1987 was a highly successful lobbyist, is known for his flamboyant, colorful clothes and lavish entertainment budget. He also failed to disclose the European trip in his official lobbying reports filed with the Senate Office of Public Records. But, because the office has no enforcement powers, it is not unusual for lobbyists to file reports like Royer’s listing their clients but disclosing no details of their lobbying activities.

“I have no duty to report anything,” Royer told The Times.

At the time of the trip, Royer was working as a lobbyist for the Swiss Bankers Assn. as well as the Securities Industry Assn. and other financial industry clients in the United States, including the now-defunct Drexel Burnham Lambert.

He indicated that he did not consider the trip part of his congressional lobbying activities, even though Jordan and his other traveling companion, Thomas Lykos, were employed by the Banking Committee, which presided over issues involving his clients.

“Not every trip with a lobbyist is for lobbying,” he said.

According to Jordan’s amended report, Royer’s lobbying firm--Royer, Shacknai & Mehle--paid for the round-trip air fare and all food and lodging during the nine-day trip. She said that the trip was intended to allow her “to meet with officials of Swiss Bankers and tour stock exchanges in each country and meet with representatives of the government who regulate the securities industry.”

Along with her revised report, Jordan filed a copy of an undated document signed by Cranston and then-Senate Banking Committee Chairman William Proxmire (D-Wis.) approving the trip. The document states that the trip would not be paid for by the government but by a lobbying group. Such internal committee documents normally are not made public.

The committee document said that the purpose of the trip was “to participate in seminars with English, Swiss and French government officials and securities representatives on exploring issues raised by the internationalization of the securities markets in London, England; Basel, Switzerland, and Paris, France, in participation with the SIA (Securities Industry Assn.).”

Royer’s close relationship with Jordan and Cranston was well known on Capitol Hill at the time. In 1988, a banking industry publication reported that Royer was in line to be chosen for a top staff position on the Banking Committee if Cranston lost his position as assistant majority leader and took over as committee chairman.

The report upset banking groups, whose efforts to break into the securities business have been opposed by the Securities Industry Assn.

Sources said that, several years ago, Royer, using his influence with Jordan and Lykos, was the only lobbyist permitted to attend a conference committee session on a key financial industry bill. All of the other seats were reserved for committee staff members and the press.

But the sources said that Royer’s influence in Congress may have waned since he tangled in 1988 with Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, over an accusation by Swiss bankers that Dingell’s staff members had exceeded their authority when conducting an investigation on Swiss soil.

In a report filed earlier this year, Royer and his firm listed 16 clients, including the Securities Industry Assn., Citizens Savings Bank, Financial Security Assurance, International Futures Exchange, MacAndrews & Forbes, Morgan Stanley, Municipal Finance Industry Assn., John Nuveen and Long Island Savings Bank.

But industry sources said that Royer no longer works on behalf of the Securities Industry Assn., and Bill Jordan, the association’s director of regulatory and state affairs, said: “I’ve never heard of him.”