Countywide : U.S. Accused of Stall in Hill Investigation

Democratic state attorney general candidate Arlo Smith said Tuesday that voters have a right to be told whethere Republican Assemblyman Frank Hill will be indicted in a Sacramento influence-peddling scandal before deciding whether to vote for him in a state Senate race.

Smith, San Francisco’s district attorney, is trying to increase his visibility in Orange County. He came to Santa Ana to endorse fellow Democrat Janice Graham, who hopes to defeat Hill, the Whittier Republican, in an April 10 contest for Sen. William Campbell’s seat in the predominately Republican 31st District, which is split between Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Graham and Smith both accused the U.S. attorney in Sacramento of leaving the issue of Hill’s role in the scandal unclear for too long. They called for tougher ethics-in-government laws.

Smith said that if he is elected, he will establish a separate ethics unit in the attorney general’s office to prosecute corruption among elected officials.

“I hope this will be the last election that Orange County voters will go to the polls with unresolved questions about the ethical conduct of a candidate,” Smith said.

More than a year ago, Hill’s Sacramento office was searched by the FBI in a sting operation that led to the conviction of state Sen. Joseph Montoya (D-Whittier) and the recent indictment of former Democatic state senator Paul Carpenter, who now is a member of the State Board of Equalization. Hill has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged.

Hill’s spokeswoman, Kathi Crowley, said Hill is confident that Smith’s and Graham’s tactics will fail.

“Innuendo and half-truth and guilt association don’t work,” Crowley said. “The voters are smarter than that.”

Crowley said Hill has not been in contact with federal investigators in the influence-buying affair for more than a year.

Graham said that it is “inevitable” that Hill will be indicted and that voters would be better served if it happened before the election.

“What happens if Frank Hill is elected and a few weeks later he is indicted?” Graham asked. “What happens to the representation in the31st District then?”

Smith hastened to say he does not think that the filing of charges against Hill is inevitable, repeating several times that Hill “might be cleared.”

But he agreed with Graham that the matter should be resolved before April 10.