Carpenter Enters Prison, Is Freed on Bail Appeal

As the state’s top elected officials began their new terms in office Monday, former state Sen. Paul Carpenter surrendered to federal authorities in Lompoc to start serving his new term--12 years in federal prison.

But Carpenter was freed within hours after his attorney, Merrick Rayle, filed an emergency motion with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals requesting that Carpenter remain out on bail, Rayle said.

Carpenter will remain free for at least a week, Rayle said, while the court considers whether he should stay out of prison during a lengthy appeal of his conviction on four counts of racketeering, extortion and conspiracy.

Carpenter, who won reelection to the State Board of Equalization last November despite his conviction, reported to the Lompoc Federal Penitentiary at noon and was released shortly after 4 p.m.

If his conviction stands, Carpenter is expected to serve a minimum of four years--the same length of time he would have held his seat on the five-member board.

Former Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp and Secretary of State March Fong Eu have ruled that Carpenter is ineligible to serve on the tax board because of his conviction and the seat remains vacant.

Even as the Norwalk Democrat prepared to go to prison, he tried to cling to his $95,052-a-year seat on the board. On Friday, he took the oath of office administered by notary public Eileen Pushkin, who works in Rayle’s law office.

Pushkin, a secretary for the firm of Wyman, Bautzer, Kuchel & Silbert, acknowledged Monday that she swore Carpenter into office. “I don’t see anything unusual about having the oath of office given (in the law office),” she said.

State law and the California Constitution prohibit anyone convicted of bribery, treason and other felonies from holding elected office.

Carpenter and Rayle contend that he should not lose his Board of Equalization seat because he was not convicted of any of the crimes specifically spelled out in the Constitution.

They also argue that Carpenter should not be disqualified from his seat because he was convicted for crimes that took place before 1987, when he was a member of the Senate.

“Mr. Carpenter was not charged with any crime associated with his Board of Equalization post,” Rayle said.

Carpenter, who was caught in an FBI sting investigation of corruption in the state Capitol, was found guilty of using his Senate position to extort campaign contributions from various interest groups with a stake in pending legislation.

Since his conviction, Carpenter and his attorneys have sent letters to various state officials making it clear that they will contest his ouster from the board and will seek to collect a portion of his salary.

Caren Daniels-Meade, chief of elections for Eu, said the office received a faxed copy of Carpenter’s oath of office notarized by Pushkin. Daniels-Meade said the oath was not legally valid because Eu never certified Carpenter as the winner of the election.

“We will not accept the oath for filing and we are returning it,” Daniels-Meade said.

Gov. Pete Wilson, who took his oath of office Monday, is slated to fill Carpenter’s seat by appointment. Among those he is considering for the post is Matt Fong, the losing Republican nominee for state controller and son of Eu. Whoever Wilson selects must be confirmed by both houses of the Legislature.

Rayle cautioned that appointing someone to the position representing much of Los Angeles County will touch off a messy legal battle. “If Gov. Wilson decides to appoint someone else for that seat, it had better be a wide seat because there are going to be two people sitting in it,” Rayle said.