Prosecution Witness Voted for Bogus Bill : Capitol sting: Former assemblyman is called in trial of Sen. Joseph B. Montoya to explain legislative process. The ex-legislator also testifies that he received nearly $250,000 in campaign contributions in his last two years in office.

Former Assemblyman Alister McAlister, testifying as a government expert in the trial of Sen. Joseph B. Montoya, acknowledged under cross-examination Thursday that he voted for a dummy FBI bill because he believed it might do some “small good.”

McAlister, who once ran for state controller calling himself “Honest McHonest,” testified that he had no recollection of the bogus 1986 legislation pushed by undercover FBI agents even though the measure came before the Assembly committee he chaired.

McAlister and other lawmakers who voted for the bill thought they were voting to help a Georgia company set up a shrimp-processing plant near Sacramento. But, in fact, the company was a creation of the FBI, and the bill represented the first phase of a federal undercover sting that ultimately led to the indictment of Montoya.

The Democratic senator from Whittier is accused of accepting $3,000 from an undercover FBI agent in exchange for his vote on a virtually identical dummy bill to help the shrimp “company” in 1988. In all, Montoya is charged with 12 counts of extortion, bribery, racketeering and money laundering involving the sting legislation as well as several legitimate bills.

McAlister, who left the Assembly in 1986 to become a business lobbyist, was called by the prosecution to explain to the jury how the legislative process works.

But under questioning from defense attorney Michael Sands, McAlister acknowledged that the Assembly Finance and Insurance Committee he chaired voted overwhelmingly for the bogus FBI bill.

“I assume I voted for it because there was no opposition, did no harm and perhaps did some small good,” McAlister said. The bill passed the committee by a vote of 12 to 2 and later passed the Assembly by a vote of 72 to 5.

In response to questions from Assistant U.S. Atty. John Panneton, McAlister told the jury that the Senate Business and Professions Committee chaired by Montoya was a “juice committee.” As such, he said, it attracted thousands of dollars in campaign contributions for the chairman and committee members from groups affected by the panel’s actions.

But under cross-examination, McAlister acknowledged that the insurance committee he chaired was also a juice committee. During his last two years in office, McAlister said, he received nearly $250,000 in campaign contributions--much of it from businesses affected by legislation that came before his own panel.

McAlister said that the contributions never affected his vote on any piece of legislation and that he did not give any group preferential treatment because of the money they donated.

“I tried really hard to totally separate that from my judgment,” he told the jury but added: “It’s difficult for anyone to know what unconscious influence that would have. I tried to decide on the merits.”