Corruption Trial of GOP Legislator, Ex-Aide Begins : Courts: Prosecutor charges that Sen. Frank Hill bought and sold the state’s laws. Defense calls him an honorable man who ‘is not your typical politician.’

A federal prosecutor contended Tuesday that the political corruption case against state Sen. Frank Hill is “about the buying and selling of the laws of California” and said that the Whittier Republican lied to FBI agents.

Hill’s lawyer painted a vastly different picture, describing the legislator as an honorable middle-class family man who never “linked money to legislation.”

The contrasting arguments were made before a U.S. District Court jury that began hearing evidence against Hill and his co-defendant, former Democratic Senate aide Terry E. Frost.

Hill is the first GOP legislator to stand trial in a string of cases growing out of an elaborate sting operation in which undercover FBI agents posing as out-of-state businessmen sought legislation to help set up a bogus shrimp-processing business.

Hill, 40, is charged with extortion, conspiracy and money laundering. Frost, 44, now a private consultant, is charged with conspiracy to commit extortion. Both men have pleaded not guilty.

In his opening statement, Assistant U.S. Atty. Bradford Lewis cited a 1988 meeting in which Hill received a $2,500 honorarium from the undercover agent and told the agent “we’ll do everything we can.”

Lewis said that two months later Hill lied when he told FBI agents he couldn’t recall anyone asking him for assistance or to use his influence to help with the shrimp bill.

Hill’s lawyer, Stephen D. Miller, acknowledged that Hill initially failed to recall the details because he was interviewed after a 15-hour day at the end of the legislative session and he was “preoccupied with other business.” But Miller said his client did not make a false statement to agents.

Miller also sought to tarnish the integrity of former GOP Assembly aide Karin Watson, the prosecution’s chief witness. He said that undercover agents and informants “wined and dined” Watson with lobster and champagne to induce her to make incriminating statements against Hill and others.

Miller told the jury that Hill “is not your typical politician.” He described him as a family man who speaks his mind and “has served with honor and distinction.”

Later Tuesday, the government began the time-consuming process of playing the first of 30 or so tapes of conversations secretly recorded by John A. Shahabian, a onetime Senate aide who became a crucial government informant.

On the tapes, Frost boasted to Shahabian that he had always been “behind the scenes” but was emerging as a key player in steering campaign contributions to Senate Democratic leaders from special interests seeking legislation. The exchanges provide an insight into how staff members such as Frost and Shahabian sometimes exerted considerable clout over legislators.

During a Feb. 9, 1988, lunch, Frost cited proposed legislation affecting oil companies in which he claimed to have attracted a contribution for then-Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys).

Frost said he “offered the oil companies total control of the bill” in exchange for control of their political action committee.

Frost said he “just got five grand for David Roberti out of it for his San Francisco event. They’re . . . gonna have major money.”

Frost told Shahabian that the bill, apparently related to service stations, “was one of my all-time best efforts at playing the system. I had a win-win situation for everybody.” It was unclear whether the bill was ever introduced.

During the lunch, Frost also told Shahabian that a legislator had introduced a bill that was hostile to the airline industry to pressure the carriers into improving service for legislators and their staff. As a result, Frost said, “the airline guys started to go nuts.”

But the legislators agreed to drop the bill, Frost said, after one airline agreed to give staff members a state discount without the customary reservations, set up a telephone number for legislators and staff members to call for information on delayed flights, and allowed legislative staff members to get priority “bumping people on reservations.”

Frost’s lawyer, Christopher Wing, acknowledged during his opening arguments that his client was at times blunt in conversations but contended that “Frost never agreed with anyone to sell or buy votes” in violation of the law.

None of the tapes played so far related directly to the case against Hill.

Times staff writer Daniel M. Weintraub contributed to this story.