Office Break-In Fuels Sacramento Discomfort : Corruption: Intrigue grows as six lobbying firms are vandalized after the fall of Sen. Robbins.

A mysterious break-in over the weekend at lobbyists’ offices a block from the Capitol has stirred speculation that the destructive burglary was linked to an ongoing federal investigation of political corruption.

With lobbyists, legislators and their staff members still reeling from last week’s revelation that former Sen. Alan Robbins had been caught taking bribes and became an FBI informant, burglars broke into six lobbying offices, punched through walls, smashed computers, destroyed artwork and dumped files on the floor.

In the paranoia-tinged atmosphere of the state capital, the break-in quickly drew references to the Watergate office building burglary that kicked off a national political corruption scandal nearly two decades ago.

The Sacramento Police Department, which is investigating the break-in, has not ruled out any motive in the case but sought to dampen speculation that the vandalism was part of an effort to cover up evidence in the federal corruption probe.

Police Lt. Vern Root noted that the FBI, which handled the Robbins investigation, has not stepped in to take over the case. “By the mere fact that the FBI hasn’t gotten involved in this is an indication that there is no connection,” Root said.

The FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office declined comment on the break-in.

The vandalism underscored the discomfort of the Capitol’s lobbying corps, whose members already feel under siege, according to one veteran legislative staffer. The break-in also highlighted the widespread activities of Robbins, who was active on a huge number of bills that came before the Legislature.

“The whole episode has had a chilling effect on the atmosphere . . . the break-in, the Robbins thing, the investigation,” said lobbyist Kathryn C. Rees, whose offices are two blocks away from the building that was vandalized.

Several lobbyists whose offices were trashed had dealings with Robbins, including the firm of Rose & Kindel, which worked closely with the former senator this year to kill a bill restricting mergers of limited partnerships.

“The feeling is: It’s bad enough when we know the FBI is out there, but now we don’t know who else might be out there,” said a legislative staff member who asked not to be identified. “Everyone’s wondering: ‘What the hell is going on now?’ ”

Last Tuesday, on the day Robbins announced that he would resign from office and plead guilty to two felonies, the FBI raided the office of Clayton Jackson, one of the Capitol’s top lobbyists, in a search for evidence.

As news of the weekend break-in spread throughout the Capitol on Monday, some speculated that it was aimed at a particular lobbyist’s office, with the vandalism of other offices intended to throw police off the scent.

“Nobody knows if it was to hide something or destroy something, or a grudge against one of the six offices,” said one lobbyist whose office was not disrupted. “What lobbyist who works in Sacramento didn’t have some contact with Alan Robbins?”

But the lobbyists whose offices were vandalized put it down to a random criminal act and dismissed the notion that it had been sponsored by one of the lobbyists themselves.

The break-in seemed to be well planned and organized. The burglars struck sometime before 6 a.m. Saturday when security guards were not in the building.

There were no marks of forced entry in the building’s locked main lobby, but the burglars broke into offices on the 12th and 14th floors by punching holes in the plasterboard and reaching in to unlock the doors.

In some, they smashed glass partitions, furniture, computer screens and expensive vases. In others, they scattered files, threw around food, ripped open couches and broke golf clubs, Root said. In all, there was an estimated $50,000 in damage.

Selecting offices seemingly at random, they broke into the suites of Lang/Mansfield Governmental Relations and then passed by several offices before entering the offices of Rose & Kindel, a Los Angeles-based lobbying firm. One of the partners, Maureen Kindel, is a former Los Angeles city public works director who is close to Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley.

Root said the vandals also hit offices on the 14th floor occupied by the lobbying offices of Ackerman/Gladfelty; Smith & Ackler; the California Motor Car Dealers Assn., and Philip Morris USA.

Two of the offices, Philip Morris and a firm they employ, Lang/Mansfield, were involved in a controversy this year when a leaked confidential memo indicated that Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) had advised them to use a sham tobacco control bill to preempt local anti-smoking ordinances.

Such items as a television and a VCR were taken from some offices, but police said they were trying to determine precisely what was stolen.

“The damage is quite extensive and it will probably be a long, painstaking thing by the people in the offices to establish what was taken,” said Root.

Cristina Rose, a partner in the firm of Rose & Kindel, said a fax machine was stolen from her office but no files or papers were taken. She said she did not believe the break-in had anything to do with a bill on which she worked closely with Robbins on the last night of the legislative session.

Rose and Robbins successfully delayed action on the measure that would have imposed a six-month moratorium on so-called partnership “roll-ups”--transactions that would merge limited partnerships into new corporations listed for trade on the stock market.

Advocates of the bill said the safeguards were necessary to protect the limited partners, who saw the value of their investments drop drastically after the “roll-ups.” But Rose’s client, the Investment Program Assn. of Washington, D.C., opposed the bill as “premature,” as did such brokerage giants Dean Witter Reynolds and Drexel Burnham Lambert.

Robbins tried to derail the bill on the Senate floor by having it referred to his Insurance Committee for a hearing, said legislative aides who worked the bill. When that attempt failed, Robbins lobbied against its passage as the legislative session wound down on Sept. 13. The measure fell one vote short of the 21 it needed.

Among the lobbyists whose offices were attacked, only one has an indirect link to the investigation of Robbins.

David G. Ackerman, who now heads his own lobbying firm, was the state Insurance Department’s legislative advocate in 1985 and worked on the opposite side of Robbins on one of the bills for which the former senator has admitted taking a bribe.

The legislation by Robbins shifted regulation of the credit insurance industry’s rates from the Insurance Department to the Legislature. Records show that Ackerman recommended that the measure be rejected, but his boss, then-Gov. George Deukmejian, signed the bill.

Ackerman said Monday he did not recall the bill.

When Ackerman arrived at work Monday, he found that the vandals had destroyed two 200-year-old Ming vases worth about $1,000 each, as well as other Oriental art and calligraphy.

“This is just unbelievable,” he said. “It seems to make no sense. Nothing seems to be taken.”

Times staff writers Mark Gladstone, Daniel M. Weintraub and Paul Jacobs contributed to this report.