Carpenter Pressed for Donations, Court Told : Politics: Lobbyists describe meetings with former state senator. One says there was ‘no question’ of a shakedown attempt.

Five Capitol lobbyists and a Southern California businessman testified Tuesday that former state Sen. Paul Carpenter pressured them to give money to his campaign when they went to see him privately on legislative matters.

“We were shaken down for money in that meeting, no question about it,” said Jeff Thompson, a lobbyist for the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., an organization of prison guards. “It was real clear if we did not play the game we were not going to get support from him.”

In the second day of Carpenter’s trial on political corruption charges, representatives of a Los Angeles medical school, a hospital company, farmers, a smog testing firm and the prison guards told jurors that the former Democratic senator balked at discussing legislative issues and questioned why he had not received their financial support.

During cross-examination, however, defense attorney Gerard Hinckley succeeded in shaking the testimony of several of the prosecution witnesses, including one former lobbyist who admitted that his memory of his meeting with Carpenter was “somewhat blurred.”

Carpenter, now a member of the State Board of Equalization, is on trial on four counts of racketeering, attempted extortion and conspiracy stemming from his meetings with the lobbyists and his acceptance of $20,000 from an undercover FBI agent.

On Tuesday, witness after witness told of meeting with Carpenter in his office to discuss issues of importance to them. But when their meetings began, witnesses said, Carpenter used his computer to call up a record of their legislative campaign contributions or referred to a printout of their donations.

The charges against Carpenter date back to the mid-1980s and, in one case, to 1980. But the prosecution witnesses said they recalled their meetings with Carpenter because they were surprised by his unusual pitch for a contribution at the same meeting in which legislation was discussed. Only one witness, businessman Bill Canup, said he could recall a similar solicitation from a legislator--the late Assemblyman Curtis Tucker (D-Inglewood).

Some of the strongest testimony against Carpenter came from Thompson, the prison guards’ lobbyist, who said he went to see the senator in 1985 to get his support for a bill designed to help state prison guards get a pay raise.

Earlier, Carpenter had blocked passage of the measure when it was considered by the Senate Public Employees and Retirement Committee, the lobbyist testified.

Thompson said he met with Carpenter in his office and began to discuss the bill, but the senator immediately switched subjects. He said that Carpenter, holding a record of the group’s contributions, questioned why the prison guards had never given him money but had donated to the campaign of his Republican rival, then-Sen. H. L. Richardson.

The conversation ended after Thompson agreed to accept a fund-raising invitation from the senator. Thompson told the jury that he clearly remembered the meeting because “it was the most pressure I’d ever had.”

The prison guards’ association later gave Carpenter a $1,000 contribution.

But under Hinckley’s cross-examination, Thompson acknowledged that Carpenter subsequently voted for the bill on two occasions before he ever received the group’s contribution.

Thompson also acknowledged that in the four months before the payment to Carpenter, the prison guards’ association had given legislators and Gov. George Deukmejian about $100,000 in contributions to “begin establishing relationships with members of both parties.”

Gavin McHugh, another lobbyist for the prison guards, followed Thompson to the witness stand and gave a similar account of the meeting with Carpenter. But he differed with Thompson on one critical point, saying he did not recall any mention of the legislation before Carpenter began talking about campaign contributions.

Daniel Haley, a former lobbyist for the Western Growers Assn., testified that Carpenter raised the subject of contributions at a similar 1984 meeting where Haley hoped to discuss legislative matters.

“I certainly got the message that we had not contributed to him or his compadres and he was not inclined to hear the views we wanted to express,” said Haley, now a top official in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

But under questioning by the defense, Haley admitted that he did not recall what issue he wanted to discuss with the senator, saying that his recollection of the events was “somewhat blurred.”

Pacific Palisades businessman Canup also had difficulty remembering details of his meeting with Carpenter, which took place in the fall of 1980.

Canup testified that as a representative of Hamilton Test Systems, an Orange County company that conducted auto smog testing, he visited Carpenter in his district office to promote the firm’s interest in pending legislation.

But instead of discussing the issue, Canup told the jury, Carpenter turned to his computer and began talking about the company’s campaign contributions. As he left, Canup said, the senator handed him an invitation to a fund-raising event.

But during cross-examination, defense lawyer Hinckley said he would introduce evidence to show that Carpenter did not have a computer in his district office at that time. In addition, Hinckley pointed out, the company could not have had an interest in any bills pending in the fall of 1980 because by then the Legislature had already adjourned its session.

The jury also heard testimony from lobbyists for American Medical International, a hospital firm, and the Charles Drew Postgraduate Medical School in Los Angeles, who said Carpenter declined to discuss legislation and raised the question of campaign contributions.

“Sen. Carpenter asked me if my company would support him in his reelection bid,” testified former American Medical International lobbyist Ronald Fox. “I was kind of taken aback.”