Corruption Investigation Gathers Speed : Capitol: Grand jury focuses on lobbyist, studies new charges against former senator and revives probe of two Republican legislators.

A federal grand jury investigating corruption in state government has picked up its pace, targeting one of the Capitol’s most prominent lobbyists, Clayton R. Jackson, and focusing on new allegations of misconduct by former Democratic Sen. Paul B. Carpenter, according to sources familiar with the inquiry.

The grand jury and the U.S. attorney’s office also have revived their investigation of two Republican lawmakers: Sen. Frank Hill of Whittier and Assemblyman Pat Nolan of Glendale, several of these sources, including grand jury witnesses, told The Times.

Hill and Nolan were among the legislators whose Capitol offices were raided by FBI agents in August, 1988, at the end of a federal sting operation. No charges were brought against the two men, but U.S. Atty. George L. O’Connell also has not exonerated them.

O’Connell is under pressure to conclude the political corruption investigation that he helped launch in the early 1980s. With a change of Administration in Washington, his tenure as a presidential appointee is likely to end.

And, according to sources, a five-year statute of limitations will expire in June on many activities growing out of the sting.

All four investigative targets--Jackson, Carpenter, Hill and Nolan--have denied wrongdoing. O’Connell, who has previously refused to discuss grand jury proceedings, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

For the moment, lobbyist Jackson and Democrat Carpenter are at the center of the heightened grand jury activity, according to sources who asked not to be identified.

Jackson is a lawyer and longtime insurance industry lobbyist. His firm, SRJ Jackson, Barish & Associates, has consistently been one of the Capitol lobbying corps’ top moneymakers--taking in $1.7 million in the first nine months of 1992.

Carpenter, who left the Senate to take a seat on the state Board of Equalization in 1986, lost his public office in 1990 after he was convicted on corruption charges. But last year the verdict was reversed because of flawed jury instructions. This week, a federal court judge set a May 3 date for Carpenter’s retrial.

However, the grand jury is looking at separate allegations against Carpenter in connection with its investigation of Jackson.

Key to possible cases against Jackson and Carpenter is former Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys), who is serving a 60-month federal prison term after pleading guilty to racketeering, extortion, obstruction of justice, income tax evasion and making false statements to banks.

When entering his plea on the corruption charges, Robbins described an elaborate scheme to extort thousands of dollars for his own benefit. Robbins said that as chairman of the Senate Insurance, Claims and Corporations Committee, he first directed Jackson to make contributions to Carpenter’s campaign. He said he told Carpenter to pay up to $80,000 over three years to a Santa Monica public relations agency operated by a former Robbins aide, Jennifer Goddard. Robbins said that at his direction, Goddard made payments “for my direct and indirect benefit.”

Other court documents show that a substantial amount of the money--close to $20,000--was paid by Goddard to a series of Robbins’ girlfriends.

Robbins said he had agreed to help Jackson defeat a bill affecting the California State Lottery in exchange for campaign contributions from one of Jackson’s lobbying clients, GTECH, which now operates the lottery’s computer games.

But Jackson’s attorney, Donald H. Heller, contended in an interview Wednesday that Robbins’ court statement was patently false, and he accused the U.S. attorney’s office of leading the jurors “down the garden path” by selectively presenting misleading evidence.

“I am distressed that the U.S. attorney’s office is pursuing an investigation based on the testimony of the likes of Alan Robbins, who is a perjurer and a person with multiple felony convictions,” Heller said.

“I don’t know whether my client will be indicted,” Heller said. “I certainly hope he won’t be. But I believe, when all the facts come out, he will be exonerated.”

When the charges against Robbins were announced in November, 1991, prosecutor O’Connell revealed that the state senator had been cooperating with authorities and would continue to do so. Other sources disclosed that Robbins had worn a hidden tape recorder for months as he talked to colleagues and lobbyists.

O’Connell held out the possibility that Robbins’ sentence could be reduced if he continued to cooperate fully with authorities.

On the day of the Robbins announcement, FBI agents searched the offices of lobbyist Jackson, carting off several boxes of records as well as the lobbying firm’s computers.

Earlier this month, Robbins was transferred from the federal prison at Lompoc to the El Dorado County jail in Placerville, near Sacramento. The move was made for the convenience of prosecutors who need Robbins’ help to complete their investigation, an FBI spokesman said.

Also in recent weeks, the grand jury subpoenaed several individuals who have worked with Jackson, including lobbyist Kathleen Snodgrass. A former prosecuting attorney and onetime aide to Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), Snodgrass left Jackson’s firm several years ago and is a partner in another firm.

Others called to the grand jury have been questioned about Hill.

Several accountants told The Times that they were asked about a $2,000 payment Hill received after a luncheon meeting with officials from the Society of California Accountants. Hill had agreed to carry a bill for the group.

At the time of the 1987 meeting, Hill was an assemblyman, serving under Nolan, then the Assembly Republican leader.

Several sources said that Nolan remains a target of the federal investigation.

One of Nolan’s top aides, Karin L. Watson, pleaded guilty to extortion charges in 1989 and agreed to cooperate with investigators. Her sentencing has been repeatedly delayed pending completion of the Hill and Nolan investigations.

In 1988, Watson arranged a $2,500 honorarium to be paid to Hill and $10,000 in campaign contributions to be paid to Nolan by an undercover FBI agent posing as a businessman seeking passage of a special interest bill to help set up a shrimp-processing plant near Sacramento.

Federal prosecutors videotaped meetings in which the payments were made.

Other tapes include conversations between the undercover FBI agent and Hill, Watson and others.

On one recording, Hill bantered with the FBI agent, referring to “the shrimp deal” as “all this big boondoggle,” but promising to “round up the troops” to ensure passage of the bill.

On another tape, Watson said that Nolan carefully tracked campaign contributions and would want explanations of money that the businessman had given to Democrats, including Carpenter.

Carpenter’s court-appointed attorney, Charles F. Bloodgood, said his client was determined to clear his name. “If they offered him a misdemeanor with no jail time, he’d reject it and go to trial,” Bloodgood said.

In a recent interview, Hill refused to comment on the investigation.

Nolan’s attorney, Ephraim Margolin, said: “I am not aware that anyone is going after my client and I believe nobody should. I am not aware of anything that would justify an indictment.”