Carpenter Convicted of Corruption : FBI sting: Jury finds former senator guilty of selling his vote for $20,000. He is removed from his position on the State Board of Equalization.

Former Sen. Paul Carpenter was convicted Monday of four counts of racketeering, extortion and conspiracy for using his Senate office to extract campaign contributions from lobbyists and an undercover FBI agent.

The 11-member jury rejected Carpenter’s claim that he accepted a $20,000 payment from the undercover agent because he was conducting his own “reverse sting” of the FBI.

After two days of deliberations, the jury found that the Norwalk Democrat used his Senate post as a racketeering enterprise and engaged in a pattern of extorting campaign contributions from lobbyists seeking legislative action.

The 62-year-old Carpenter took the verdict stoically and told reporters, “I’m glad hanging isn’t an option in California for legislators.”

With his conviction, Carpenter automatically loses his seat on the State Board of Equalization and is disqualified from holding elected office, even if voters reelect him to the post in the Nov. 6 election.

Election officials said it is too late to take his name off the November ballot. If he receives a majority of votes for the board seat the governor will name his successor.

The conviction of Carpenter is the second major victory for U.S. Atty. David F. Levi, whose office has conducted a five-year investigation of corruption in the state Capitol. Earlier this year, then-Sen. Joseph B. Montoya (D-Whittier) was convicted on seven similar corruption charges stemming from the federal undercover sting investigation.

Levi said Carpenter’s conviction sends a strong message to the Legislature that accepting money in exchange for any legislative action--even the simple act of meeting with a lobbyist--is a violation of the law.

“You can’t sell your office,” Levi said after the verdict. “You can’t sell your time. You can’t sell your attention. You can’t sell your judgment.”

The case against Carpenter marks the first time federal prosecutors have challenged California lawmakers’ frequent practice of giving preferential treatment to their campaign contributors.

Carpenter, once the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, faces a potential prison sentence of 20 years on each count, plus a maximum fine of $750,000. Montoya is now serving a 6 1/2-year sentence at a federal prison near Boron.

Carpenter said he would meet with his attorneys to consider whether to appeal the conviction. “I’m surprised and disappointed at the jury’s verdict,” the former senator said as he left the courtroom.

The Carpenter jury--short one member because of an illness--will return to court today to determine whether Carpenter should forfeit the $20,000 he received from the undercover agent, John E. Brennan.

Carpenter’s conviction on all four counts against him sets the stage for additional indictments expected from the federal investigation. Among remaining targets are Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Tarzana), Sen. Frank Hill (R-Whittier), Assemblyman Pat Nolan (R-Glendale) and Assemblywoman Gwen Moore (D-Los Angeles).

“We do expect it (the investigation) to go on for a long time,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. John P. Panneton, the lead prosecutor in the Carpenter trial.

The conviction is likely to fuel public dissatisfaction with the Legislature at a time when voters are considering two measures on the Nov. 6 ballot--Propositions 131 and 140--that would limit the number of terms legislators can serve.

Carpenter, who left the Senate in 1986 for his seat on the Board of Equalization, was found guilty of extorting $20,000 from Brennan in 1986. The undercover agent was posing as an Alabama businessman seeking passage of legislation to give his shrimp importing company a $1-million tax break.

Carpenter testified that he suspected he was the target of a sting and deliberately did not vote on the bill so that he could not be accused of selling his vote. In an interview with the FBI and federal prosecutors last November, he claimed that he was conducting his own “reverse sting” of the undercover agent.

The jury found that Carpenter extorted the money from Brennan and took specific actions to help promote the dummy FBI bill in violation of the law. Among other things, Carpenter advised Assemblywoman Moore, the official author of the measure, how to get the bill through the Senate. He also pushed Sen. Leroy Greene (D-Carmichael), the Senate floor manager of the bill, to take up the legislation.

At one point, when Carpenter took a final $5,000 from Brennan, Carpenter told him in a tape-recorded conversation, “Hey man, you’ve got access.”

The jury also found Carpenter guilty of conspiring with his aide John Shahabian to extort the money from the agent. Shahabian, an unindicted co-conspirator, was given immunity in exchange for his cooperation with prosecutors and his testimony against Carpenter.

Shahabian told the jury that he came up with the $20,000 figure and steered the money to Carpenter. In turn, the senator paid Shahabian $7,500--a payment that prosecutors termed “a kickback for a bribe.”

Gerard Hinckley, Carpenter’s attorney, argued that Shahabian had acted on his own to extort the money from the agent. The defense also charged that Shahabian lied about the senator’s role in obtaining the payment.

On one charge that arose after the undercover operation became public in 1988, the jury found Carpenter guilty of attempting to extort money from a lobbyist for the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn.

Lobbyist Jeff Thompson testified that he went to see Carpenter about legislation that would have helped members of the prison guards union get a pay raise.

Instead of talking about the bill, Thompson said, the senator berated him for giving campaign funds to Republicans. “We were shaken down for money,” he told the jury.

In finding Carpenter guilty of racketeering, the jury concluded that the senator had engaged in a pattern of illegal behavior, extorting money from Thompson, the undercover agent and other lobbyists.

Carpenter’s credibility suffered during the trial in part because of his admission that he lied to the Fair Political Practices Commission in a letter about the campaign donation from Brennan.

In addition, a former aide, Ida Lowe, testified that the senator frequently used legislation to raise campaign contributions and tried to block bills of those who “had not been appreciative.”

In an attempt to discredit Lowe, the defense pointed out that she had been fired by Carpenter and was angry with the senator because he had cheated on his wife by dating another member of the staff.

Prosecutors were elated with the conviction of Carpenter on all counts, particularly because the evidence against him was not as clear cut as the case against Montoya.

“We are very pleased that the jury recognized the nuances of this very sophisticated crime,” Panneton said. “I think in part the message is that it’s a violation of the law to either subtly or directly send messages to people who (are sponsoring) legislation that money is going to make a difference.”

Senate Democratic Leader Barry Keene said the jury’s verdict will force legislators to re-evaluate their frequent practice of providing “access” to individuals who contribute money and ignoring those who do not.

“Often, access becomes everything,” said Keene, who was called by Carpenter as a witness in the trial. “That will be looked at much more carefully.”

Levi, who has been nominated by President Bush to become a federal judge, described the practice of granting access to campaign contributors more bluntly: “I call it the teller’s cage outside the legislator’s office,” he said. “That is totally abhorrent and illegal.”

Carpenter, who has a doctorate in experimental psychology, was well known in the Legislature for his cold, impersonal style and wry sense of humor. Even his lawyer acknowledged to the jury that he was “arrogant” and “rude.”

With his conviction, Carpenter is immediately suspended from his $95,052-a-year position on the Board of Equalization representing southern and central Los Angeles County. He immediately loses his salary and all perks such as his state automobile, car phone and telephone credit card, state officials said. Upon his sentencing later this year, he will formally forfeit the seat.

Nevertheless, his name will be on the November ballot against Republican Joe H. Adams Jr., who is a board employee, and Peace and Freedom Party candidate Salomea Honigsfeld, a retired nurse.

If Carpenter wins in the heavily Democratic district, his replacement will most likely be selected by the next governor, either Republican Pete Wilson or Democrat Dianne Feinstein.

The Carpenter verdict is the sixth conviction resulting from the long-running federal investigation of corruption. In addition to the conviction of Montoya, former Yolo County Sheriff Rod Graham, former Yolo County Undersheriff Wendell Luttrull and Senate aides Karin Watson and Amiel Jaramillo have all pleaded guilty to charges arising from the probe.

Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles), who served with Carpenter in the Legislature, would only say that “I am very sorry for Carpenter and his family.”

Times staff writers Paul Jacobs, Jerry Gillam, Virginia Ellis and Carl Ingram contributed to this story.

THE CARPENTER VERDICTS

Here are the verdicts in the racketeering and extortion trial of former state Sen. Paul Carpenter.

CHARGE SPECIFIC ALLEGATIONS VERDICT COUNT 1: Engaged in pattern of extortion GUILTY Racketeering and bribery on six separate occasions. COUNT 2: Received $20,000 from an GUILTY Extortion undercover FBI agent seeking help in passing legislation. COUNT 3: Conspired with then-aide John GUILTY Conspiracy to Shahabian to extort $20,000 commit extortion. from the undercover agent. COUNT 4: Sought a campaign contribution GUILTY Extortion from California Correctional Peace Officers Assn. lobbyists seeking help in passing a bill.