Robbins Put Price Tag on Bill, Witness Testifies : Legislature: An FBI informant says the Tarzana state senator suggested $40,000 would be needed to pass measure in Senate.

Sen. Alan Robbins “suggested $40,000” would be required to win Senate passage of a bill, an FBI informant testified Tuesday in the political corruption trial of Sen. Joseph B. Montoya (D-Whittier).

The informant, Senate aide John Shahabian, also testified that the Tarzana Democrat told him that it would cost the sponsors less than $20,000 in campaign contributions for Robbins to reintroduce the bill, to help a dummy FBI shrimp importing company obtain state bond financing.

Shahabian’s testimony sheds more light on Robbins’ part in an elaborate FBI sting operation and the way bills make their way through the Legislature.

In reply, Robbins said Tuesday that secret FBI recordings show that “absolutely and unequivocally I was the one legislator who turned down Shahabian’s money.” A tape-recording introduced as evidence at the trial earlier shows that he “never accepted any of his offers of money,” Robbins said.

Robbins has been identified as a subject of the FBI investigation that led to the indictment of Montoya but has not been charged with any crime by federal prosecutors.

Under state anti-bribery laws, it is a crime for any lawmaker “who asks, receives or agrees to receive, any bribe, upon any understanding that his official vote, opinion, judgment or action shall be influenced thereby. . . .” The FBI sting operation looked for evidence that lawmakers violated federal corruption laws by breaking state laws.

Shahabian was trapped in the sting himself in 1986 and later agreed to cooperate with federal agents by posing as a promoter of their legislation for the dummy shrimp company. He became the chief government witness against Montoya, who is on trial in U.S. District Court on 12 counts of extortion, racketeering and corruption.

In a key taped conversation with Montoya, Shahabian said then-Sen. Paul Carpenter (D-Cypress) had received $20,000 in campaign contributions from the shrimp company in 1986, when an earlier version of the bill was approved by the Legislature but vetoed by Gov. George Deukmejian.

Last month, Shahabian testified that advice from Robbins led him to offer a payoff of $3,000 to Montoya to win his help in passing a similar measure in 1988. But according to a secret FBI recording of the June 8, 1988, conversation, Robbins turned down a contribution from Shahabian for himself, saying, “I don’t need to be taken care of on every bill that comes through.”

On Tuesday, prosecutors indicated that the meeting was among six conversations--including brief telephone calls--Shahabian had with Robbins, beginning on Aug. 11, 1987, the day after Shahabian agreed to become an informant.

In their first encounter, Shahabian testified, he reminded Robbins of the demise of the 1986 bill and that Carpenter had received $20,000 in campaign contributions for his role.

“Sen. Robbins said he would sponsor the bill in the following term,” Shahabian told the jury. But Shahabian quoted Robbins as telling him “he wouldn’t charge as much as Carpenter.”

Asked by a defense attorney whether he and Robbins discussed any sum of money, Shahabian said no.

Shahabian said he again raised the issue of money with Robbins during a meeting on Nov. 24, 1987, at the senator’s Van Nuys office. Shahabian said he sought to determine “how much will be a good budget for the sponsors.”

“He suggested $40,000,” just for the Senate, Shahabian testified.

During the same meeting, Shahabian said, Robbins advised him to have the shrimp legislation reintroduced in the Assembly, where it had originated in 1986. Under questioning by Montoya’s lawyer, Michael Sands, Shahabian said Robbins told him that if the new version of the measure was introduced in the Senate first it would “anger Assembly members” and “it would cost more.”

Robbins, in an interview, dismissed any suggestion of wrongdoing, stressing that he neither sought nor accepted any money from Shahabian and that he did not introduce the measure on behalf of the shrimp company.

Robbins said people can listen to the tape-recording of the June, 1988, meeting or any other recording by the investigators and make their “own judgment as to whether I’ve been an angel or not.”