Second Orange County Judge Faces a Hearing : Usually Secretive Panel Confirms Inquiries Into Allegations Against Schmidt and Carter

The California Commission on Judicial Performance announced Tuesday that it has ordered a formal hearing on allegations of misconduct against veteran Harbor Municipal Court Judge Calvin P. Schmidt--Orange County’s longest-sitting judge.

It was the second announcement in 2 months by the usually secretive commission that it is investigating a judge. On Oct. 13, the commission, declaring that the subject matter is widely known to the public, announced that it would hold a formal hearing on allegations against Schmidt’s Harbor Court colleague, Municipal Judge Brian R. Carter.

Though the exact nature of the hearings has not been disclosed, there have been reports in recent months that the commission has been investigating allegations of misconduct against Carter, 63, and Schmidt, 59, that include courtroom favors for friends and trading favoritism for sex.

In a short statement Tuesday, Peter Gubbins, an investigating attorney for the commission, said that commission proceedings are confidential by law but that the California Rules of Court permit “a short announcement when the subject matter is generally known to the public and there is broad public interest.”

“It has been reported in the media that Judge Calvin P. Schmidt of the Harbor Court Municipal District is the subject of commission proceedings,” the statement said. “This is to confirm that the Commission on Judicial Performance has ordered formal proceedings concerning Calvin P. Schmidt.”

Gubbins would not elaborate, nor would he say whether other Harbor Court judges are being investigated by the commission. He also declined to say whether the hearings on the allegations against Carter and Schmidt would be public or how long the proceedings might last.

Schmidt said: “I’m happy that they’re going to do the investigation because there has been a lot of innuendo and speculation in the newspapers.”

“I think the investigations will lay all this to rest,” Schmidt added in his first public statement on the matter in months. “I’m confident that there are no problems that I have. I’ve been here 22 years, and I’m not going to be involved in anything that would hurt my reputation. I will be vindicated.”

In addition to the allegations against Schmidt and Carter, it has been reported that the commission is looking into misconduct accusations against at least three other judges on the eight-member Harbor Court, which serves Newport Beach, Costa Mesa and Irvine.

- Sources have told The Times that the commission has looked into whether Judges Russell A. Bostrom and Selim S. Franklin called a meeting with Newport Beach city officials last year at which they exerted pressure in an attempt to halt a police investigation of Schmidt and Carter.

- Sources also have said that the commission has inquired into whether Judge Susanne S. Shaw improperly endorsed a political candidate and made remarks from the bench that offended Latino defendants.

The commission investigates charges of misconduct by judges and is empowered to recommend to the state Supreme Court that a judge be censured or removed from office.

Schmidt has come under fire recently for ordering the stepdaughter of a friend released from jail after drug arrests, even though she had a history of failing to appear in court.

Terri Ann McMullen, 28, is the stepdaughter of M. Robert Guggenheim, the influential Newport Beach philanthropist and great-grandson of Meyer Guggenheim, multi-millionaire founder of the gigantic American Smelting & Refining Co. Schmidt ordered her released on her own recognizance in March and October, court records show.

The second time that Schmidt ordered McMullen released, detention-release officers with the court warned him against it, saying that she was a bad risk because of a history of failing to appear in court.

Schmidt responded, according to court documents, by saying that McMullen was a member of the Guggenheim family and that the “defendant’s parents were wealthy.”

Campaign statements show that M. Robert Guggenheim made a $500 campaign contribution to Schmidt in 1985.

Schmidt’s name also surfaced in a Fullerton police investigation into prostitution and gambling arrests at Griswold’s Inn in Fullerton in June, 1984. According to court documents, a woman arrested for prostitution in that incident told police that she agreed to have sex with Schmidt in return for his help in getting her driver’s license reinstated.

Schmidt, according to the documents, allowed Judge Carter to collect the sexual favor.

Questions also have been raised about Schmidt soliciting large amounts of campaign contributions and then giving large amounts of that money to politicians, such as Paul Carpenter, now a member of the State Board of Equalization.

In 1986, Schmidt lent Carpenter, a Democratic state senator from Cypress at the time, $20,000 for his campaign for the Board of Equalization and then forgave $10,000 of that amount, according to campaign statements. That, according to the Fair Political Practices Commission, is the same as making a $10,000 contribution to Carpenter’s campaign.

Until last year, state judicial canons put a limit of $100 on a contribution by a judge or a candidate for judicial office to a non-judicial politician’s campaign. That limit now has been increased to $500 per candidate.

Schmidt on Tuesday said he could not comment on any of the allegations against him, except to deny them categorically. But he added that he is looking forward to the commission’s hearing and said that he had told Gubbins so when the judicial commission investigator telephoned him Tuesday afternoon to let him know of the inquiry.

“I really hope that the investigation is speedy. I hope it is thorough, and I hope the results will be forthcoming and made available to everybody,” Schmidt said. “I’m just happy it’s finally here. What has made me nervous is to read the newspaper articles all the time. The fact that they are going to do an investigation is going to be a welcome happening.”

Schmidt was born in 1929 in Los Angeles and raised in Glendale. He earned an undergraduate degree in 1951 and a law degree in 1954 from the University of Southern California.

After a short stint in the U.S. Air Force, Schmidt opened a law practice in Santa Ana in 1958. He had a general civil practice with an emphasis on municipal law. Schmidt also served as city attorney for Fountain Valley, Los Alamitos and Villa Park, and assisted in the incorporation efforts of the latter two cities before being appointed to the bench .

Schmidt was named a municipal judge by Gov. Edmond G. Brown in 1966 and has never been opposed in an election.

But, concerned about rumored election challenges in 1980 and 1986, Schmidt amassed campaign war chests of more than $35,000 and $45,000, respectively.

Schmidt said he raised so much money for those elections because of persistent rumors that many of the county’s incumbent municipal judges would face challengers. Four incumbent Orange County judges were defeated in elections in 1978.

After election opponents failed to surface in 1980 and 1986, Schmidt said, he offered to return much of the money to contributors. But he said most of the contributors declined to take their money back. Some of that money, he said, remains in a campaign fund. He next faces reelection in 1992.

Times staff writer Jerry Hicks contributed to this article.