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1994-03-16
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SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
Copyright 1993, San Jose Mercury News
DATE: Tuesday, March 23, 1993
PAGE: 1A EDITION: Stock Final
SECTION: Front LENGTH: 31 in. Long
ILLUSTRATION: Photos (2)
SOURCE: GARY WEBB, Mercury News Sacramento Bureau
DATELINE: Sacramento
MEMO: McClatchy News Service and the Associated Press contributed to this
report.
ROBBINS TELLS OF FUNDS PLOT WITH*ROBERTI*
Former state Sen. Alan Robbins told FBI agents that he and Senate
President Pro Tem David*Roberti*plotted to get campaign money from the
insurance industry shortly after*Roberti*appointed Robbins to head the
powerful Senate Insurance Committee, according to an FBI affidavit released
Monday.
Robbins, who has pleaded guilty to taking bribes from an insurance
industry lobbyist, ''talked to*Roberti*about the fund-raising potential that
accompanied his appointment to the Insurance Committee,'' the affidavit says.
''According to Robbins, he became the biggest fund-raiser for*Roberti*as well
as individuals and committees*Roberti*favored in the mid-1980s.''
And, the affidavit said, the man Robbins claims was bribing him --
insurance lobbyist Clayton Jackson -- ''was also a large supplier of the
money that went to David*Roberti,*his committees and the candidates he was
backing.''
The 80-page affidavit, which was attached to a request to search
Jackson's Sacramento lobbying offices, was written in 1991 and immediately
sealed by a federal judge. It finally was made public Monday at a hearing in
federal court in Sacramento.
*Roberti,*who has not been accused of wrongdoing, said through a
representative that while ''he asked members of the Democratic caucus,
including Robbins, to raise support for candidates to the Senate, he never
directed Robbins to any particular source for support.''*Roberti*also denied
that Robbins was his biggest fund-raiser.
In addition to implicating Jackson, the affidavit also raises questions
about some past actions of Assemblyman Rusty Areias, D-Salinas.
On Monday, Areias denied the claims that Robbins made in the affidavit
concerning an alleged $13,500 bribe that Robbins received from a Jackson
client, Gtech Corp., in return for Robbins' promise to oppose a bill that
would have harmed the company's chances of getting a major lottery contract
in the state.
The document quotes Robbins as saying he was relieved of his obligation
to oppose the bill when Jackson told him that he had struck another deal with
the measure's author, Areias.
''Jackson told Robbins that Jackson and . . . Areias agreed that the bill
could be passed out of the Senate Government Organizations Committee, with
the understanding that it would 'die' on the Senate floor,'' the affidavit
said. ''Apparently, Areias wanted to show his supporters that he could get
the bill out of the committee.''
Monday, Areias called that characterization of his actions ''absolutely
untrue'' and said he pushed the bill hard on the Senate floor because it
would have created 140 jobs in his district through a lottery-ticket printing
plant in Gilroy.
''I had no conversation about any arrangement like that with Mr. Jackson
or Mr. Robbins,'' Areias said. ''There was no gain for me or my constituents
by just clearing another committee hurdle.''
The documents also show Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, D-San Francisco,
in an unfavorable light.
At one point in a taped conversation, Robbins says there are a ''lot of
people that Willie screwed and double dealed.''
''As a matter of fact, I was trying to think of the person who he hasn't
done that to,'' Jackson replies.
Jackson, one of Sacramento's most influential lobbyists, was indicted
recently on racketeering and mail*fraud*charges, accused of making payoffs to
Robbins in exchange for legislative favors on bills of interest to Jackson's
clients. Jackson also is accused of offering Robbins a $250,000 bribe to grab
control of a worker's compensation bill his insurance clients didn't like.
In the affidavit, Robbins told the FBI -- which confirmed the tale with
bank records -- that he used some of the $87,000 Jackson allegedly funneled
to him to make payments to ''several females who were romantically involved
with Robbins,'' as well as a masseuse.
''The checks ranged in amounts from $300 to $3,000, with many of them
over $1,000,'' said the affidavit, written by FBI Special Agent James J.
Wedick Jr.
Wedick's affidavit said the money was laundered through former state Sen.
Paul Carpenter's campaign fund. Carpenter, a Southern California Democrat, is
facing mail*fraud*charges in the same case.
The affidavit also hints that other lobbyists may have made payoffs to
Robbins, who has been convicted of racketeering and is now in prison.
''Robbins has admitted to numerous instances in which he traded official
action for payments of money, including campaign contributions, from Clayton
R. Jackson . . . as well as others,'' the document says.
Jackson denies the charges, and his attorney, Donald Heller, has
portrayed Jackson as a victim of a ''government-sanctioned'' extortion
attempt by Robbins, who Heller says was looking to reduce his jail sentence
by cooperating with the FBI.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney John Vincent, in a motion opposing Jackson's
efforts to get his bail lowered, said Robbins and Jackson have had a
''corrupt relationship that spanned the years,'' starting with a $10,000
bribe in 1974 to vote for a no-fault insurance bill.
Robbins, a Los Angeles Democrat, claimed a former Senate aide told him
that ''Clay Jackson would raise money'' for him if ''he could see his way
clear to voting for the no-fault bill.''
Robbins voted for the bill, got the $10,000 and ''from that point on, he
knew that money would be available from Clay Jackson if Robbins wanted it,''
the affidavit says. Later, Robbins said, Jackson helped persuade*Roberti*to
appoint Robbins to head the Insurance Committee and said Jackson's support
was crucial to his getting the job.
''Had Jackson opposed his being named the chairperson of the Insurance