ONE THUMB DOWN: At least one constituent...

ONE THUMB DOWN: At least one constituent is knocking the Senate’s tough crime bill against fraudulent savings and loan operators (A1). . . . Charles H. Keating Jr., former operator of the failed Lincoln Savings & Loan of Irvine and target of civil and criminal investigators, calls the legislation “political persecution.” . . . That it could put him in prison for life is not the point, he says. “What’s important is that the government is creating a debt situation that we’ll never get out of.” . . . Regulators estimate S&L; failures nationwide will cost taxpayers as much as $500 billion.