GOP Leader Nolan, Target in FBI Capitol Sting, Urged Colleagues to Keep Silent

Assembly Republican Leader Pat Nolan, a central target of an FBI sting, advised his colleagues to “keep their mouths shut” and offered to step down from his leadership post if the probe begins to cause political damage, GOP legislators said Saturday.

“Pat emphasized to everyone to keep their mouths shut and not to repeat rumors,” said one lawmaker, who asked not to be identified. “He said he would be cleared and he was confident he had done nothing wrong.”

No action was taken on Nolan’s offer to resign “somewhere down the line” if the investigation began “doing harm to the (GOP) caucus,” the legislator said. Nolan brought up the issue at a closed-door meeting of Assembly Republicans on Friday, but he could not be reached for comment Saturday.

After more than two years of secret investigation, the FBI sting surfaced Wednesday night when 30 federal agents raided the Capitol offices of Nolan and three other legislators.

The elaborate sting used two dummy companies and a veteran Senate staff member, John A. Shahabian, to collect huge amounts of videotaped and tape-recorded evidence to support allegations of corruption among legislators and aides.

Nolan, a five-term Assemblyman from Glendale, is one of at least five elected officials--all from the Los Angeles area--who are targets of the probe, sources familiar with the investigation have said.

Assemblywoman Gwen Moore (D-Los Angeles), Assemblyman Frank Hill (R-Whittier), Sen. Joseph B. Montoya (D-Whittier) and state Board of Equalization member Paul Carpenter, a former Democratic senator from Cypress, are also under investigation.

The FBI is also investigating the activities of several legislative staff members, including Karin Watson, a top aide to Nolan who plays a key role in fund raising.

In political terms, the FBI’s investigation could have the most serious ramifications for the Assembly Republicans because Nolan and Hill are among the chief fund raisers for the caucus and are heavily involved in many of the Assembly’s fall election campaigns.

Nolan, 38, an ambitious, conservative politician, has talked frequently of wresting majority control of the Assembly away from Democrats and becoming Speaker.

Some GOP insiders were concerned that the sting might scare away campaign contributors during the crucial two months remaining before the Nov. 8 elections.

“I’m worried about the whole Assembly Republican leadership because it’s so pivotal,” said one GOP campaign consultant who asked not to be identified. “They are the individuals who are running the campaigns.”

Hill, whose office was virtually shut down Friday, has not been seen in the Capitol since Thursday and could not be reached for comment.

Two other Republican lawmakers, who also asked to remain anonymous, confirmed that Nolan had promised to resign “if things were really hot” and the probe jeopardized the GOP’s political hopes.

“He felt some of the members might feel uncomfortable with him because of the investigation and the publicity surrounding it put him under a cloud,” one assemblyman said. “If members felt uncomfortable with that, he wanted to give them an opportunity to say so. Nobody felt that way.”

The FBI probe adds a major distraction to the final three days of the legislative session, which is scheduled to conclude at midnight Wednesday.

The end of the session is typically the time when the Legislature meets long into the night to settle many of the most important issues of the year. So far, lawmakers have yet to resolve such pressing questions as raising money for transportation projects or shifting funds to county governments to pay for the operation of trial courts.

Contributing to this story was Times staff writer Daniel M. Weintraub.