Witnesses Tell of Pressure by Carpenter for Contributions : Politics: One lobbyist claims at the corruption trial of the former state senator that he views incident as a shakedown attempt.

Two prosecution witnesses said Tuesday that then-Sen. Paul Carpenter pressured them for campaign contributions when they went to see him about legislative business in the mid-1980s.

One of those witnesses, Daniel Haley, a former lobbyist for the Western Growers Assn., told jurors at Carpenter’s political corruption trial that Carpenter handed him a list of the association’s campaign contributions during a meeting in 1984 or 1985 in the lawmaker’s Capitol office.

Haley said Carpenter told him, something to the effect, “Based on that (list) do you expect me to help you or listen to you?”

“I certainly got the message that we had not contributed to him or his compadres, and he was not interested in the issue I was trying to present,” said Haley, who now heads the Agricultural Marketing Service for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“I felt if we had contributed to Sen. Carpenter I would have had an opportunity to address him about my views on the issues,” Haley added.

Carpenter, a Long Beach Democrat who is now a member of the State Board of Equalization, is facing racketeering, extortion and conspiracy charges that accuse him of seeking campaign contributions in exchange for political favors. The trial began Monday.

He has pleaded innocent.

The charges relate to a series of incidents that allegedly took place before Carpenter, 62, left the Legislature in 1987 to take a seat on the tax board.

Another former senator, Joseph Montoya, a Democrat from Whittier, is serving a 6 1/2-year prison sentence on charges stemming from the same FBI investigation at the Capitol.

Haley said he went to Carpenter’s office to see the then-senator about a bill or the appointment of former Republican Assemblyman David Stirling to be chief prosecutor for the state Farm Labor Board.

Instead of discussing legislative issues, Haley said, Carpenter handed him the contribution list. “I was a little shocked, a little embarrassed and a little uncomfortable,” Haley said.

Under cross-examination from defense attorney Gerard Hinckley, Haley said he has a “somewhat blurred recollection” of the meeting and can’t remember precisely what was said and exactly what he wanted to discuss with Carpenter.

But he said he remembered the incident because “of the position I was put in with regard to contributions.”

Another witness, Jeff Thompson, chief lobbyist for the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., said he felt that Carpenter was suggesting a quid pro quo during a 1985 meeting at Carpenter’s office.

Thompson said he and another police lobbyist, Gavin McHugh, went to see Carpenter about a bill that their organization was backing. Carpenter quickly changed the subject to campaign contributions and why the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn. hadn’t contributed to him, Thompson said.

“The fact that he switched the conversation at that point directly to money put us in a really unusual position,” Thompson said. “That was the most uncomfortable meeting I ever had in my nine years as a lobbyist.”

Hinckley suggested during cross-examination that Thompson didn’t believe when he left the meeting with Carpenter that it was a shakedown.

“Oh, no, quite the contrary,” Thompson said. “We were shaken down in that meeting.”

But Thompson acknowledged telling a federal grand jury that he came to view the meeting as a shakedown only after learning of the FBI investigation of Capitol corruption. He said he never reported the incident until a federal agent telephoned and asked if he had ever been victimized by Carpenter.

Thompson said Carpenter never actually stated that he wanted money for his vote, but the lobbyist said he believed that was what the former lawmaker was suggesting.

“It certainly was weird,” Thompson said. “It was the most unusual pressure (for contributions) I had ever had. I would say his behavior was uncalled for.”

Thompson said Monday that his group gave Carpenter a $1,000 contribution about three months after the meeting.

McHugh testified that he attended the meeting with Carpenter and Thompson.

Carpenter had a document in his hands and told the two lobbyists, “I see you have given significant contributions to Sen. Richardson,” McHugh told jurors.

Carpenter and former Sen. H.L. Richardson (R-Glendora) had a well-publicized clash in 1985 after Carpenter suggested that Richardson was involved in an earlier corruption scandal. No charges were ever filed against Richardson.

“I got the distinct impression . . . that he (Carpenter) was angry with us,” McHugh said, adding that Carpenter “kind of scowled and had a frown on his face” although his voice was soft.

“I was a little shocked and I think I was a little bit intimidated,” McHugh added.

“It was not like any other meeting I had had before or since,” McHugh added. “I had never been asked for any kind of financial support . . . by anyone in the Capitol.”