Carpenter Admitted Allegation : Sting: Former state senator told U.S. authorities that he gave special “access” to undercover officer in return for a $20,000 campaign contribution.

Former state Sen. Paul Carpenter admitted to federal authorities last fall that he gave special “access” to an undercover operative in exchange for a $20,000 campaign contribution, an FBI agent testified Thursday.

FBI Agent Jim Wedick said Carpenter also contended that he was aware the $20,000 payment was part of a sting investigation but accepted the money because he was conducting his own “reverse sting.”

“He thought he could take the money and not violate the law and he thought he could conduct a sort of ‘reverse sting’ on the FBI,” said Wedick, who participated in an interview last November when Carpenter attempted to explain his actions.

“We knew he was lying,” the agent added under cross-examination.

The testimony from Wedick is the harshest evidence presented so far against Carpenter, who is on trial on four counts of racketeering, extortion and conspiracy stemming from the FBI investigation of corruption in the state Capitol.

Federal prosecutors allege that the former Democratic senator from Norwalk, now a member of the State Board of Equalization from the Los Angeles area, traded official actions for the $20,000 in campaign contributions. Prosecutors charge that it is a violation of the law to provide “access”--that is, to meet with certain citizens at the exclusion of others--in exchange for money.

Wedick’s testimony, coming as the prosecution rests its case, puts Carpenter in an awkward strategic position because it commits the former senator to a specific line of defense before he ever takes the witness stand.

Carpenter and his then-lawyer, Richard Crane, met with Wedick, U.S. Atty. David F. Levi and other prosecutors and FBI agents last November in an attempt to persuade the authorities to drop charges.

According to Wedick, Carpenter said he knew he was the target of an FBI sting from the first time he was approached by his aide, John Shahabian, in 1986 with the possibility of receiving a $20,000 campaign contribution.

The money was offered by undercover FBI Agent John E. Brennan, who was posing as Jack Gordon, a free-spending Alabama businessman seeking legislation to help his shrimp-importing business get a California tax break.

In the 1989 interview, Carpenter contended that he knew the money was part of a sting and directed Shahabian to collect the money but not do anything that could be “misconstrued” as aiding passage of the bill.

“He said he did not vote on the bill, he did not participate in the legislative process, he did not grease the bill or seek (Senate President Pro Tem David A.) Roberti’s assistance,” Wedick testified. “Therefore he could not be responsible for doing anything wrong.”

At the same time, however, Carpenter admitted taking specific actions in exchange for the money, Wedick said.

“Carpenter said he did provide Gordon access and that he did consider (he was) giving Gordon access in exchange for the contribution,” Wedick told the jury.

Wedick, who is the agent in charge of the FBI sting investigation, also testified that Carpenter acknowledged talking about the bill with Assemblywoman Gwen Moore (D-Los Angeles), the official author of the bill, and Sen. Leroy Greene (D-Sacramento), the floor manager of the bill in the Senate.

Wedick questioned Carpenter’s contention that he knew all along the payment was part of a sting and was careful not to violate the law. Carpenter, the agent noted, was “astonished” to learn during the 1989 interview that he had lunched with an undercover FBI agent, Wedick said.

The jury already has heard a lengthy tape-recording of the lunch, in which Brennan gives Carpenter a check for $5,000 as the final installment of the $20,000 in contributions. During the lunch, the senator tells Brennan, “Hey, man, you have access.”