For Smooth Lobbyist, a Rough Assignment : Recovery: If anyone can get O.C. bankruptcy package into law, it’s insider Dennis Carpenter.

It was a vintage Denny Carpenter deal. A couple of years ago, the state parks department threatened to uproot the denizens of the funky beach cottages at Orange County’s Crystal Cove. The oceanfront residents who lease the rustic abodes from the state called on Carpenter--one of Sacramento’s most storied lobbyists--for help.

Carpenter quickly cut to the core. The parks officials had grand plans for opening the cottages to the public, but had no money to do it right away. In the meantime, why not leave the residents be? With that argument, the silver-haired lobbyist got lawmakers to extend the lease for Crystal Cove.

That little legislative victory in 1993 was nothing new for Carpenter, who has ranked among the most influential lobbyists in the state Capitol for more than a decade. But now the 66-year-old deal-maker faces perhaps his greatest challenge--to help push through a controversial batch of bills designed to yank one of his longtime clients, Orange County, from the jaws of bankruptcy.

It is an assignment for which Dennis E. Carpenter carries perhaps the perfect resume.

In recent years, his firm, Carpenter, Snodgrass & Associates, has ranked as the top lobbying organization in the state, routinely racking up more than $2 million in annual gross revenues. Carpenter typically represents big business--Arco and R.J. Reynolds are among his clients.

A former state senator from Orange County who still spends weekends at his Newport Beach home, Carpenter has been an FBI agent and an attorney. Like the county he is now trying to help, Carpenter once had to file for bankruptcy, but pulled himself up by the bootstraps and, fueled by his lobbying income, now is co-owner of a 20,000-acre cattle ranch in Oklahoma.

He has also chaired the California Republican Party’s state central committee and enjoyed serendipitous friendships with luminaries ranging from Walter Knott of Knott’s Berry Farm fame to former President Ronald Reagan.

Perhaps most important for Republican-dominated Orange County, Carpenter enjoys remarkably good relationships with powerful Democrats in the Capitol, most notably Assembly Speaker Willie Brown. Although the Speaker has already voiced his resolute opposition to the Orange County recovery legislation, Brown remains an inveterate Carpenter fan.

“He’s big! He’s big! He’s huge!” Brown chimed, holding his arms outstretched to illustrate both Carpenter’s robust physique and stature in the Capitol. “He’s very effective. He never takes himself seriously. He’s able to grasp a volume of information and synthesize it. And he’s got integrity. He never lies to you. I don’t think there’s any better.”

Even some who have been on the opposite side of the battle lines in the Capitol’s legislative wars pay credit to Carpenter’s intelligence, integrity and wit.

“He’s a great lobbyist, not the sort you really want to be on the other side of,” said Judith Bell, a legislative advocate for Consumer’s Union, the nonprofit group that publishes Consumer Reports. “But in my experience, he’s a straight shooter.”

The most pointed critique, perhaps, comes from legislative watchdogs who criticize Carpenter and other Capitol lobbyists for their representation of organizations that flood lawmakers with campaign cash. Since January, 1993, for instance, Carpenter’s clients have contributed more than $2.3 million to Sacramento lawmakers.

“He represents some of the heavy hitters, some of the largest contributors in the Capitol,” said Ruth Holton, executive director of Common Cause, a nonprofit group pushing for campaign finance reform. “When he walks into the room, legislators are well aware of his ability to steer contributions in their direction.”

For his part, Carpenter plays down the role he has in setting his clients’ agenda of campaign giving, noting that probably only half a dozen of the 40 firms he represents even give lawmakers any cash. Although campaign contributions are a part of the Capitol mosaic, “more important is knowing what you’re talking about,” he said.

Carpenter learned that sort of plain-spoken lesson early in life. The son of a high school math teacher and coach in rural Minnesota, Carpenter grew up in a house equipped with kerosene lamps, a wood-burning cook stove and an outdoor latrine. “You could stay constipated all winter,” he quips.

But despite the impoverished upbringing, Carpenter doesn’t recall “missing any meals; we had a good family relationship.”

An all-state football player, he opted for the Army after visiting the University of Minnesota football coach. “I told him I didn’t think I was big enough,” Carpenter recalls. “He told me, ‘Son, you’re a perceptive young man. You’ll go far.’ ”

Carpenter moved on from the Army to school at UCLA, working nights at a Lockheed plant running a hydro-press. There he started a friendship with Jesse Unruh, who would later go on to become a powerful Democratic Assembly speaker and state treasurer.

Back then, Carpenter explains, “I was a Democrat. I was a Democrat half my life.” It was only after law school, a four-year stint with the FBI, practicing law in Orange County for about 15 years and raising a family that Carpenter began dabbling as a volunteer in political campaigns in the late 1950s. Among those he helped was Caspar W. Weinberger, the future Reagan Adminstration defense secretary who was at the time running for California attorney general.

An affable sort, Carpenter caught the eye of Walter Knott, who took on the challenge of getting the young Democrat to switch to the GOP. Carpenter eventually relented, and Knott immediately pulled strings to get him elected chairman of the Orange County Republican Central Committee.

Reagan also proved to be a mentor. As governor, he helped propel Carpenter onto the state central committee and, in 1970, pushed him to run in a special election for a state Senate seat in Orange County.

Carpenter quickly rose through the ranks, becoming Senate minority leader and for a time vying for the 1976 U.S. Senate seat eventually captured by S.I. Hayakawa. It was an opportunity he wishes had turned out differently.

“If I had gotten into the U.S. Senate, I probably would have stayed there to this day,” he said, noting that the federal lawmakers “have the ability to truly influence big things.”

He left the state Senate in 1978 to tend to a development business he had established in the Sacramento area. But his renewed focus on the flagging firm couldn’t help; booming interest rates left him with dozens of unsold houses in the Sacramento suburbs, and Carpenter had to file for bankruptcy.

His life quickly turned around. In the early 1980s, Carpenter was approached by several Southern California businesses about lobbying on their behalf to get the peripheral canal built. He told them he was too busy. “They started talking to me about how much they pay,” he recalls, “and I said, ‘You know, I’m not that busy. . . ‘ “

A new career was born. “I discovered I liked lobbying,” Carpenter said, noting that the challenge of handling a variety of topics and interests proved particularly enticing.

Today, Carpenter said, his tactics are simple: Know the topic, keep focused and avoid getting bogged down by the minutiae of each industry he represents. He works hard to get to know all the Capitol lawmakers, invariably with meetings in their offices. With rules against lobbyists giving meals or gifts to lawmakers, “the old wine-and-dine theory is gone,” Carpenter said. “Besides, I don’t think you can buy people with a free lunch anyway.”

Mark Watts, a former lobbyist with Carpenter’s firm, said it’s more a matter of personalities. “His demeanor, just his approach to life, his joie de vivre, makes him very approachable,” he said.

Indeed, Carpenter’s specialty is the soft sell.

“He’s not an aggressive, in-your-face person,” said Maureen DiMarco, Gov. Pete Wilson’s education secretary. “When you deal with him, it’s ‘Let’s sit down and find a solution.’ And if he gives you information, he doesn’t try to job it around. He’s forthright about the pros and cons, and advocates for rational solutions.”

He also enjoys an incredible network of contacts, among them key officials in the governor’s office as well as Brown, Senate Democratic Leader Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward) and numerous Republicans.

“He has unbelievable access, just a whole network of relationships,” said Karen Keeslar, a former Carpenter lobbyist. “He works hard, he’s effective, he gets results.”

“What he knows is the system,” added Assemblyman Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove). “He’s lived in it so long, both as a politician and lobbyist. He probably knows the system better than anyone else in Sacramento.”

Carpenter will have to draw on all his talents to push through the two dozen bills slated to be introduced on Friday when the Legislature convenes a special session on the Orange County bankruptcy. Democrats like Brown have made no bones about their opposition to much of the menu. Meanwhile, insiders say, the Orange County legislative delegation and Board of Supervisors have tussled behind the scenes over exactly what to do.

The veteran lobbyist will inevitably be key to keeping Orange County officials unified. The Democrats could prove a tougher obstacle. Carpenter remains resolute, suggesting the Democrats are posturing to push Orange County toward a tax increase.

“We don’t have a lot of easy bills,” he said. “But we’ll get some bills passed. We’ll get some things done.”

Bankruptcy Coverage

* RAABE WON’T ANSWER-- Ex-Citron aide Matthew Raabe is “actively evading” subpoena. A15

* DEEPER IN DEBT--Despite proposed deep cuts, county budget is at least $60 million short. A16

* TAX-FIGHT AMMO--Opponents of tax increase say private report today will bolster their case. A17

* MORE COVERAGE: A15-20, D1

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Profile: Dennis E. Carpenter

Age: 66

Home: Newport Beach, Sacramento

Firm: Carpenter, Snodgrass & Associates

Family: Wife, Aleta (also a lobbyist for the firm); six grown sons

Hobby: Fly-fishing

Background: Former FBI agent, attorney, California Republican Party state central committee chairman, Orange County state senator in the 1970s. Began lobbying in the early 1980s and established one of Sacramento’s most profitable lobbying operation in recent years.

Clients: More than 40 at any one time; have included county of Orange, Orange County Transportation Authority, Arco, California Trout Inc., Koll Co., Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Safeguard Health Enterprises Inc., Southern Pacific Transportation Co.

On his upbringing: “Until I went in the Army, I never lived in a house that had indoor plumbing, electricity, toilets, stuff like that. . . . We had kerosene lamps. We had wood cook stoves. An outdoor toilet. I’ve got to tell you, when you translate that into Minnesota, where it’s 50 or 60 below, you could stay constipated all winter.”

How he got into lobbying: “In 1980, a large group of companies in Southern California approached me. . . . They said they were wanting to get this peripheral canal bill passed for years and had never been able to. Would I be interested in taking that over? I said I never contemplated being a lobbyist. And then they started talking to me about how much they pay, and I said, ‘You know, I’m not that busy.’ ”

What it takes to be effective: “I think an important part of this business is knowing what you’re talking about and being trusted. If people don’t like you personally, they have a harder time accepting whatever issue you’re trying to impress.”

Source: Dennis Carpenter

Researched by ERIC BAILEY / Los Angeles Times