CD-ROM Aktief 1995 #3/CDA3.iso/survival/xroberti.zip/R12

Text File | 1994-02-22 | 6KB | 98 lines

                             SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
                     Copyright 1993, San Jose Mercury News

 DATE: Tuesday, March 23, 1993
 PAGE: 1A                         EDITION: Morning Final
 SECTION: Front                   LENGTH:  23 in. Medium
 ILLUSTRATION: Photo
 SOURCE: GARY WEBB, Mercury News Sacramento Bureau
 DATELINE: Sacramento

                      ROBBINS TALKED OF PLOT WITH*ROBERTI*
                   EX-SENATOR SAID THEY PLANNED FUND-RAISING

    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 spokesman
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.
    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 critical to his getting the job.
    ''Had Jackson opposed his being named the chairperson of the Insurance
Committee, it would have posed a significant problem,'' Robbins told the FBI.
   *Roberti*said through a spokesman that Jackson never discussed Robbins'
appointment with him.
    Most of the affidavit contains snippets of tape-recorded conversations
between Robbins and Jackson in the fall of 1991, discussing a $250,000 bribe
Robbins wanted from Jackson to get a worker's compensation bill ''lodged . .
. in the friendly confines of the Senate Insurance Committee.''
    Jackson, who sits on the board of an insurance company, told Robbins at
various times that he was talking to other insurance company executives about
raising the $250,000 but was not having much luck, according to the
affidavit. Jackson never did come up with the money.
    In one conversation, Robbins asked Jackson whether his clients would mind
if he kept $200,000 of the money for himself and gave only $50,000 to other
lawmakers.
    ''I don't give a . . .,'' Jackson replied. ''Obviously, the more
dispersed (the money is, the idea) will be easier to sell, but if these guys
are going to buy, they're going to buy.''

 CAPTION:   PHOTO: Robbins


 KEYWORDS: PAST CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE MAN BRIBERY CAMPAIGN FINANCE
END OF DOCUMENT.