CONGRESS / OUTSIDE INCOME : Embattled Industries Scatter Largess : Lawmakers got $1.4 million from defense firms and $1.1 million from financial companies in ’89.

The defense and financial services industries, both of which have big stakes in pending legislative battles, paid House and Senate members more than $2.5 million in appearance fees last year--accounting for more than a quarter of all congressional honorariums.

A Times computer-assisted study of 1989 financial disclosure reports found that members of Congress received more than $1.4 million in speaking fees from the defense industry and $1.1 million from banking and financial interests.

Defense contractors have been threatened with losing billions of dollars worth of business as a result of deep budget cuts proposed by the Pentagon; the financial services industry is at war over proposals that would allow banks to offer a broader array of services.

Also, the tobacco industry, which has been besieged by anti-smoking initiatives in Congress, spent more than $418,000 on appearance fees for members of Congress.

Not surprisingly, the largest sums from defense and financial services went to members of committees that oversee these sectors of the economy. Most of the tobacco money went to lawmakers from tobacco-growing states like North Carolina and Kentucky.

Nevertheless, the continued generosity of those firms last year was somewhat unexpected, because some members of Congress have publicly renounced honorariums in the last year and a few companies have adopted policies prohibiting payment of such fees to politicians. They include three major defense contractors: Lockheed Corp., General Dynamics Corp. and McDonnell Douglas Corp.

Honorariums paid to members of Congress who speak at trade group functions and similar events have become the subject of increasing scrutiny in recent years. For many lawmakers, they have become an important source of income to supplement their congressional salaries.

Beginning next year, House members will be forbidden by law to accept honorariums, but senators will be free to take as much as $23,568 each. In 1989, by contrast, House members were permitted to pocket up to $26,850 in appearance fees, and senators could accept as much as $35,850. Any fees in excess of those ceilings had to be donated to charity.

Among financial industry lobbying groups, the scandal-scarred Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago Mercantile Assn. commodity exchanges led the way by paying $141,000 in honorariums last year. As a result of alleged fraud in the Chicago commodities market, Congress is considering legislation that would provide for stricter regulation of the industry.

Members of Congress also received $77,500 from the Securities Industry Assn., $53,000 from the American Bankers Assn., $28,000 from the Equitable Life Insurance Society and $26,000 from Massachusetts Mutual Life--all of which are involved in lobbying on legislation that would restructure the financial services industry.

Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, was far and away the biggest beneficiary of financial services largess. In fact, fees from the industry have helped make him Congress’ honorarium leader over the last few years.

Of the $285,000 in honorariums Rostenkowski received in 1989, $122,500 came from industries with a big stake in the votes of the Ways and Means Committee.

Like Rostenkowski, all of the top 10 House recipients of honorariums from the financial services industry were either members of the Ways and Means or Banking committees.

Northrop Corp., whose B-2 bomber program could be sharply reduced this year, led defense contractors by distributing $74,000 in honorariums last year. Close behind were Textron Inc., $56,000; LTV Corp., $51,400; Rockwell International Corp., $44,000, and Boeing Co., $34,000. Textron and Boeing are fighting a Pentagon decision against production of the V-22 Osprey helicopter.

All of the top recipients of defense industry honorariums are members of defense-related committees, except Rostenkowski, who received $25,000 in fees from those companies. He got as much as Reps. William Dickenson (R-Ala.), ranking GOP member of the House Armed Services Committee, and Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.), a member of the Defense appropriations subcommittee.

Lockheed paid $17,500 in honorariums last year before abolishing the practice.

The Tobacco Institute distributed $106,275 in honorariums to members of Congress last year, much of it to those who attended the industry’s annual golf outing near Palm Springs, Calif. Among the tobacco companies, RJR Nabisco Corp. was the honorarium leader, with $97,000, followed by $86,000 from Phillip Morris Cos. and $35,500 from U.S. Tobacco Co.

Most of the top recipients of tobacco honorariums, such as Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Wendell H. Ford (D-Ky.) and Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and Rep. Charlie Rose (D-N.C.), are closely identified with the industry. Although Sen. Wyche Fowler Jr. (D-Ga.) is not an outspoken advocate for the industry, he serves on the committee that oversees tobacco interests.

TOP HONORARIUM RECIPIENTS, BY INDUSTRY

DEFENSE

Senate

Mitch McConnell R-Ky. $21,500 Thomas A. Daschle D-S.D. 13,500 Howell Heflin D-Ala. 12,000 Wyche Fowler Jr. D-Ga. 12,000 Wendell H. Ford D-Ky. 12,000 Alan J. Dixon D-Ill. 11,500 John McCain R-Ariz. 10,000 Malcom Wallop R-Wyo. 9,000 John B. Breaux D-La. 9,000 Jesse Helms R-N.C. 8,000 Warren B. Rudman R-N.H. 8,000 Bob Packwood R-Ore. 8,000 Ernest F. Hollings D-S.C. 8,000

House

William Dickinson R-Ala. $25,000 C.W. Bill Young R-Fla. 25,000 Dan Rostenkowski D-Ill. 25,000 Marvin Leath D-Tex. 22,000 Larry J. Hopkins R-Ky. 21,500 Robert W. Davis R-Mich. 21,500 Charles Wilson D-Tex. 20,650 Joseph M. McDade R-Pa. 20,500 G. Hochbrueckner D-N.Y. 19,961 Bob Livingston R-La. 18,000 Les AuCoin D Ore. 18,000 John P. Murtha D-Pa. 18,000

FINANCE

Senate

Timothy E. Wirth D-Colo. $16,000 William V. Roth Jr. R-Del. 13,100 Richard C. Shelby D-Ala. 12,000 Thomas A. Daschle D-S.D. 11,000 David L. Boren D-Okla. 10,300 George J. Mitchell D-Me. 10,000 Alan K. Simpson R-Wyo. 9,500 Christopher S. Bond R-Mo. 9,000 Daniel P. Moynihan D-N.Y. 9,000 Bob Dole R-Kan. 8,000 Jim Sasser D-Tenn. 8,000 Jake Garn R-Utah 8,000

House

Dan Rostenkowski D-Ill. $122,500 Doug Barnard Jr. D-Ga. 28,000 John J. LaFalce D-N.Y. 26,000 Bill Gradison R-Ohio 24,600 Carroll Hubbard Jr. D-Ky. 23,850 Richard H. Lehman D-Sanger 20,750 Bruce F. Vento D-Minn. 18,750 Chalmers P. Wylie R-Ohio 16,500 Rod Chandler R-Wash. 15,250 David Dreier R-LaVerne 15,100

TOBACCO

Senate

Mitch McConnell R-Ky. $15,000 Wyche Fowler Jr. D-Ga. 10,000 Wendell H. Ford D-Ky. 8,000 Jesse Helms R-N.C. 8,000 Trent Lott R-Miss. 7,000 Bob Kasten R-Wis. 7,000 Thad Cochran R-Miss. 6,000 Richard C. Shelby D-Ala. 5,000 Bob Dole R-Kan. 5,000 John B. Breaux D-La. 4,000 Conrad Burns R-Mont. 4,000

House

Charlie Rose D-N.C. $9,500 Thomas J. Manton D-N.Y. 9,500 Larry J. Hopkins R-Ky. 9,000 R.L. Thomas D-Ga. 8,000 Robert H. Michel R-Ill. 8,000 Robin Tallon D-S.C. 8,000 Charles Hatcher D-Ga. 7,000 Harold Rogers R-Ky. 7,000 W.G. (Bill) Hefner D-N.C. 6,000 Bart Gordon D-Tenn. 6,000 Don Sundquist R-Tenn. 6,000