Lawmakers Reassess Aid to Contributors : Ethics: There are no written rules on the matter. ‘Keating Five’ and other scandals have caused many in Congress to tighten own guidelines.

WASHINGTON —  With Congress suffering a series of black eyes, the “Keating Five” scandal has prompted many lawmakers to reassess the way they conduct one of their oldest and most politically valuable services: helping campaign contributors.

Although no written rules govern such assistance--a point that Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) stressed Wednesday in his response to the reprimand for violating Senate “norms”--individual senators have been creating their own guidelines.

For example, Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.) now has a secretary in his office taking notes when he is helping a constituent.

“I don’t want somebody to come up three years from now and say something was done for a contribution,” Simon said.

Similarly, Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) requires his staff to keep logs of certain unwritten contacts with federal agencies. And some senators are using tape recorders at meetings with federal officials, according to Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii).

“Everybody in the Senate is taking a look at procedures,” Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said.

That is just one impact of the “Keating Five” case, a scandal that itself was given new life by other public uproars over check-bouncing in the House bank and the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings in the Senate.

Those new flaps clearly spurred the Senate Ethics Committee, which had been deadlocked over what to do about Cranston, into administering a highly public punishment to the veteran California lawmaker.

The “Keating Five” matter also could stimulate reform of the much-criticized campaign finance system. The Senate already has approved a bill that would outlaw most contributions by political action committees (PACs) and would provide some public financing of Senate campaigns in exchange for spending limits.

The bill also would bar a federal candidate from raising money for a tax-exempt organization that conducts voter registration activities.

That is precisely the kind of organization for which Cranston raised $850,000 from Charles H. Keating Jr., who headed the defunct Lincoln Savings & Loan of Irvine, Calif. In his battles with federal regulators, Keating got help from Cranston and four other senators on whose behalf he had contributed large sums.

The House is expected to consider its own campaign reform bill soon. That proposal would limit PAC contributions and offer public subsidies to House candidates who adopt spending caps.

“The issue at the heart of the ‘Keating Five’ case and the overriding ethics issue facing the Congress is the corrupt system for financing congressional elections,” said Fred Wertheimer, president of Common Cause, a citizens lobby.

The Democratic-sponsored bills face an uphill struggle because President Bush and congressional Republicans oppose public financing and spending limits, although they support a crackdown on giving by interest-group PACs.

The Senate ethics panel offered little specific guidance to senators on how far they can go in intervening with federal agencies for campaign contributors. Many lawmakers are groping for answers, changing the way they do business in large and small ways, according to a survey by Congressional Quarterly, a research publication.

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) begged a favor-seeking businessman not to raise money for him. Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) ordered his staff to check his files to make sure they contained no Keating-type skeletons. And many senators are screening their office appointments more carefully.

Some senators are trying to put everything in writing. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), a member of the Ethics Committee, no longer meets with Administration officials without an aide present.

“I do it for protection,” he said.

On one occasion, William S. Cohen (R-Me.) publicly announced that he was going to help a certain business, to ensure that he would not be accused of doing it secretly.

Several senators have adopted informal rules of thumb. Sen. Alan J. Dixon (D-Ill.) asks, How would it look on the front page? Cohen figures, When in doubt, don’t. Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Ida.) asks, Is the constituent asking to do something for which he should hire a lawyer?

After Cranston asserted Wednesday that many of his colleagues do the same thing for which he was reprimanded--help contributors close to the time they give money--McConnell and several others angrily denied it. Simon was a little less emphatic.

“It’s something I’ve generally tried to avoid,” he said. “But you get some very fine lines in these things.”

Besides having his secretary taking notes in such meetings, he said, he has ordered aides not to tell him “who contributed and how much” when he is helping constituents.