Carpenter to Take Oath Before Going to Prison

State Board of Equalization member Paul Carpenter, convicted of four corruption charges last year, is planning to take the oath of office for a second term before he is scheduled to report to prison on Monday, an adviser to the former state senator said Friday.

However, Chief Assistant Atty. Gen. Richard Martland said any oath of office Carpenter takes will be meaningless under state law. The swearing in, Martland said, would appear simply to be an attempt by Carpenter to lay claim to a portion of the $95,052 annual salary that board members receive.

“Anybody can swear him in,” Martland said. “But I don’t think the swearing in is going to assist him in any way. We would be saying he did not hold the office and there is a vacancy.”

Carpenter, a former Democratic state senator from Norwalk, was convicted in September of four counts of racketeering, extortion and conspiracy for using his state Senate position to extract campaign contributions from interest groups. Upon his sentencing in December, Carpenter officially forfeited the seat on the Board of Equalization that he has held since 1986.

Despite his conviction, voters in Los Angeles County last November elected him to a second term on the Board of Equalization that begins Monday--the same day he is supposed to go to prison.

Jerry Goldberg, a longtime adviser to Carpenter, said he planned to take the oath of office sometime this weekend. “I was told . . . a judge has agreed to swear him in,” Goldberg said, adding that he did not know the name of the judge.

Letters sent by Carpenter and his attorney to various state officials contend that he is eligible to begin serving the new term because his conviction involved crimes that had nothing to do with his service on the board, which administers business taxes.

“My respectful refusal to vacate that office is based on my attorney’s opinion that I am entitled to hold it because my August-September Sacramento trial did not involve allegations of misconduct relating to that office,” Carpenter said in a letter to state Controller Gray Davis.

In a separate letter, attorney Merrick Rayle disputed the ruling of Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp that Carpenter was suspended from the tax board seat upon his conviction in September and lost the post when he was sentenced in December.

“He thus is entitled to the immediate payment of all compensation denied him during the period Sept. 17, 1990, through the present,” Rayle said in a letter to Martland.

In response, Martland said the state Constitution and laws enacted by the Legislature prohibit anyone convicted of such crimes as extortion from serving on the Board of Equalization.

Carpenter, in his letter to Davis, predicted he would be exonerated on appeal but said he would not try to collect any of his salary until the case is resolved.

“Despite my best efforts to the contrary, the substantial attention I must devote to my appeal will prevent me from devoting all of my efforts to the responsibilities of my office,” Carpenter said. “Therefore, I shall not accept any of the compensation to which I am entitled until all of my appeals are final.”

Rayle is expected to file a motion Monday seeking to keep Carpenter out of prison until an appeal of his conviction can be heard by a higher court. Gerard Hinckley, who represented Carpenter during his initial trial, said the maneuver could succeed in delaying Carpenter’s prison reporting date by at least several weeks.

Regardless of the claims made by Carpenter and his attorneys, Gov.-elect Pete Wilson is preparing to appoint a replacement for Carpenter as early as next week. The governor’s appointment must be confirmed by the Legislature.