Montoya Blames Aides for Events That Led to Charges of Corruption Against Him

State Sen. Joseph Montoya, on trial on federal corruption charges, testified in his own behalf today that aides either intentionally or by mistake are at fault for his legal problems.

The 50-year-old Whittier Democrat, obviously nervous, was the first witness in what his attorneys say is likely to be the last week of the trial.

Under questioning by his attorney, Montoya began his testimony by blaming one of the eight incidents of alleged wrongdoing on a fired aide, Jerry Asher, now a Tulare high school teacher.

Asher, testifying earlier as a prosecution witness, told the jury that a lobbyist, Norbert Dall, approached him in 1983 in a Capitol hallway and asked how much it would cost to get Montoya’s vote on a bill.

Asher testified that he brought the request to Montoya, who told him his vote would cost $2,500.

Asher said he told Dall that he should give Montoya $3,000, keeping $500 for himself.

Later, Asher said, he was fired by Montoya after the senator discovered he was accepting kitchen appliances as gifts from former state Republican Chairman Mike Montgomery to spy on Montoya.

Montoya denied receiving money from Dall and said the first he learned about the $500 that Asher admitted he kept was just before his trial began late last year.

Montoya also blamed another episode on a former aide, Amiel Jaramillo, who was indicted along with Montoya and is awaiting trial.

Jamie Hundt, a San Diego businesswoman testifying for the prosecution, had said Jaramillo told her about a 1988 bill that would make her mail-order contact lens business illegal.

She had earlier told the jury that Jaramillo steered her to lobbyist David Kim, who demanded a $20,000 fee and said a $3,000 campaign contribution to Montoya would ensure the bill’s delay.

Montoya never received any money from Hundt but agreed to the delay at Jaramillo’s urging because opposition was developing to the bill.

Defense attorney Michael Sands produced a letter Montoya said he wrote to the Senate Rules Committee requesting the delay because of “insufficient notice to the public.”

Later, Montoya testified, he delayed the whole contact-lens issue until a hearing when the Legislature was not in session because “it seemed to need that kind of attention.”

He said a hearing was never held because the bill’s author, Sen. Dan McCorquodale (D-San Jose), “seemed to lose interest.” A similar bill was introduced in 1989 by Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim).

Montoya conceded that another aide, Steve English, prepared a staff analysis of Seymour’s bill that noted there was no opposition, even though Hundt and her husband engineered a letter-writing campaign against the bill among thousands of their California customers.

“Well, there was a mistake on his (English’s) part,” Montoya testified.

English and Kim have refused to testify as defense witnesses, claiming their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.