Cranston Refused 3 Times to Help Keating, Committee Is Told : Thrifts: An ex-lobbyist for the S&L; owner testifies before the ethics panel that the senator never appeared to be acting solely in response to contributions.

Although he solicited nearly $1 million in donations from thrift owner Charles H. Keating Jr., Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) refused on at least three occasions to comply with Keating’s requests for political assistance, the Senate Ethics Committee was told Saturday.

James Grogan, former lobbyist for Keating’s Lincoln Savings & Loan, said that even though the California senator often willingly helped Keating in his battles with federal regulators, Cranston never appeared to be acting solely in response to contributions.

Grogan’s testimony was elicited by Cranston’s lawyer, William W. Taylor III, in an effort to rebut evidence previously presented to the panel--some of it by Grogan--suggesting a link between Keating’s contributions and the senator’s actions on behalf of Lincoln.

Cranston and four other senators--Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.), Donald W. Riegle Jr. (D-Mich.), John Glenn (D-Ohio) and John McCain (R-Ariz.)--have been accused of assisting Keating in exchange for $1.3 million in contributions to their campaigns or organizations they supported. The committee so far has held 18 public hearings on the issue and is scheduled to resume taking testimony Jan. 2.

While the subjects of money and assistance were sometimes both discussed in meetings between Cranston and Keating, Grogan said, there was never an explicit link between the two--either “by word or by body language or by raised eyebrow.”

“I never, from the senators or from Keating, got a hint the money was given in exchange for anything,” he said. “I didn’t smell that, I didn’t sniff that, I didn’t see that.”

Grogan, 36, who was testifying under limited immunity from future prosecution, listed three occasions when either he or Keating were turned down by Cranston when they sought the senator’s assistance on a political matter:

--In late 1988, Grogan asked Cranston to contact Rep. Henry B. Gonzalez (D-Tex.), chairman of the House Banking Committee, to discourage Gonzalez from holding hearings about allegations of mismanagement at Lincoln. Cranston told Grogan that it was “not something he could do.”

--In May or June of 1986, Grogan asked Cranston to support the controversial judicial nomination of Daniel A. Manion, a conservative Republican. As Grogan recalled: “He didn’t ponder the question. He quickly said: ‘No, I’ve taken a position against it.’ ”

--Keating, a vocal opponent of abortion rights, tried to persuade Cranston to alter his position in favor of allowing abortions. Cranston told him: “It’s simply an area in which you and I disagree . . . where we will always disagree.”

Although the relationship between the two has been portrayed as an odd alliance--Keating is a conservative Republican and Cranston a liberal Democrat--Grogan insisted that the political views of his former boss have been portrayed inaccurately.

He said Keating, who has given millions of dollars to charities around the world, has liberal views about the role of government in helping the disadvantaged.

Grogan said Keating gave money to politicians because “he believed in the issue or in the person he was going to support.” He said Keating viewed his political and charitable contributions as “one of the advantages of working as hard as he did.”

Keating himself offered a less idealistic explanation of his political contributions shortly after Lincoln was seized by federal regulators in April, 1989. He said if he were asked whether his political largess was aimed at buying influence in Washington, he would reply, “I certainly hope so.”

Keating later said the remark was misinterpreted as evidence that he was trying to buy influence from the five senators under investigation by the Ethics Committee, which heard Grogan’s testimony in the rare Saturday session.

Sen. David Pryor (D-Ark.), one of the six members of the committee, noted that Grogan was the “closest witness we will ever have to Charles Keating.”

Keating and his other subordinates have refused to testify before the committee without immunity, and the panel has refused to grant immunity to anyone but Grogan.

Pryor then asked, “At any time did you hear Charles Keating say, ‘we have bought access to these fellows, we have bought influence’ ?”

Grogan replied, “I never heard him say it, I never even heard him suggest it.”

Another Ethics Committee member, Sen. Terry Sanford (D-N.C.), took exception to Grogan’s earlier testimony that political contributions routinely buy access to members of Congress.

He noted that Grogan had been able to meet with many members of Congress--including Sanford--who never received contributions from Keating. “Did my secretary ask if you paid the access fee?” Sanford asked sarcastically.