Court Hears Carpenter on FBI Tapes

Former Sen. Paul Carpenter--agreeing to help win passage of a dummy bill planted by the FBI--told an undercover agent, “That’s what I do. I solve problems,” according to a tape-recording of the conversation played in court Thursday.

A moment later on the tape, the Democratic lawmaker expressed his willingness to accept a campaign contribution laundered through the agent’s “cousin” in Los Angeles, telling the FBI operative: “Whatever. . . . We always welcome new friends.”

Ultimately, Carpenter received $20,000 from the agent, John E. Brennan, who was posing as an Alabama businessman seeking help with legislation that would give his shrimp importing company a $1-million tax break.

Carpenter, in agreeing to push the bill, told Brennan he would “stroke” then-Treasurer Jesse M. Unruh to remove his opposition to the bill, according to one tape.

The brief conversation between Carpenter and Brennan outside the state Capitol in 1986 was on one of 10 tape-recordings played to jurors Thursday in the corruption trial of the former senator from Norwalk.

Carpenter, now a member of the State Board of Equalization, is charged with four counts of racketeering, attempted extortion and conspiracy as a result of the FBI’s sting investigation into corruption in the state Capitol.

He has consistently maintained his innocence and said during a break in the trial that his lawyers will present evidence that undermines the prosecution’s tapes. In all, the prosecution plans to introduce 21 tapes, most of them involving conversations with former Carpenter aide John Shahabian.

Brennan, taking the stand to explain the recordings, told jurors it was Shahabian who initially put the price tag of $20,000 on Senate passage of the shrimp legislation.

“In order for the bill to get through the Senate, I was expected to pay,” the veteran FBI agent said. “I was paying money for assistance through official actions, assistance in passing a bill through the California Senate.”

The tapes show that Shahabian presented himself as an intermediary for Carpenter and said the senator would personally help the legislation. Shahabian said Carpenter would push Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti to make sure a committee hearing was held on the bill and talk to Assemblywoman Gwen Moore (D-Los Angeles)--the author of the bill--about the strategy for winning its approval.

At the same time, Shahabian was insistent on receiving a $10,000 down payment for Carpenter’s campaign fund before the senator took action to move the bill through the legislative process, according to the tapes.

Finally, when Brennan gave Shahabian the first of three payments to Carpenter, the Senate aide promised, “He’ll call Gwen. He’ll go see Jess.”

Shahabian, who became a government informant after he was caught in the sting, is expected to testify next week against Carpenter. Shahabian is accused of conspiring with Carpenter to commit extortion, but has been granted immunity from prosecution because of his cooperation with federal authorities.

At one point, the tapes show, Shahabian assured Brennan that Carpenter was the man to push the bill through the Senate because he could approach other senators out of the public eye.

“Paul can handle all this in . . . the bathroom and the members’ lounge where it needs to be handled,” Shahabian said.

Shahabian also told Brennan that Carpenter would spread the $20,000 payment among other legislators in order to make sure that the bill would pass. He assured Brennan that the other senators would know that the contribution came from his company.

“They’ll know,” Shahabian said in one taped conversation. “Everybody’ll know. Nobody will say it, but everybody’ll know.”

In one early conversation, Shahabian urged Brennan to hire a lobbyist who could act as an intermediary in doling out campaign contributions to get votes in the Senate. “That’s why you have a lobbyist,” he said with a laugh. “They’re paid to do what’s illegal.”

But Shahabian ultimately agreed that he and Carpenter could get the bill through the Senate in the closing weeks of the 1986 legislative session. Carpenter, he said, is “the best lobbyist you could have. . . . You can pay another lobbyist a hundred thousand dollars and they couldn’t do for you what he (Carpenter) can do for 10 (thousand dollars).”