Robbins Quits Senate, Admits to Corruption : Probe: The San Fernando Valley Democrat will be sentenced to 5 years in prison. He promises to cooperate in other prosecutions.

SACRAMENTO —  Bringing down the curtain on a lengthy, often tempestuous political career, state Sen. Alan Robbins resigned from office Tuesday after agreeing to plead guilty to federal political corruption charges and promising to cooperate with authorities in other prosecutions.

In announcing the agreement, U.S. Atty. George L. O’Connell said the veteran San Fernando Valley Democrat will be sentenced to five years in prison beginning next month, when he is expected to formally enter his guilty plea to charges of racketeering and income tax fraud.

Robbins acknowledged that he used his office for personal gain--sometimes trading votes for money. He agreed to pay a $250,000 fine and whatever restitution is ordered by the court.

Tuesday’s startling announcement suggests renewed momentum for the wide-ranging, five-year federal probe of political corruption in the Capitol that has resulted in charges against three state senators, four legislative aides and a lobbyist.

The Times learned late Tuesday from sources familiar with the Robbins investigation that FBI agents searched the offices of Clayton R. Jackson, one of the most powerful lobbyists in Sacramento, earlier in the day. Jackson, who represented several clients who regularly dealt with Robbins, could not be reached for comment.

O’Connell said Robbins has been cooperating with authorities for several months--a statement that could cause discomfort among some public officials, lobbyists and others who worked with the senator in the Capitol and his home district in Los Angeles during a career spanning nearly two decades.

“I anticipate that the evidence obtained in this investigation . . . will substantially assist in a probe of official corruption,” O’Connell said. “I would anticipate in the next several months that there is a strong possibility of additional charges being brought.”

For his part, Robbins, 48, submitted a contrite, sometimes eloquent letter of resignation to the Senate on Tuesday, in which he said he finally had to face up to the reality “that some of my actions had been illegal.”

Apologizing to his constituents, he said he had lost his direction, but thanked his supporters for accepting his human frailties.

“Over a period of years, as I drank the heady wine of power and influence, my priorities in office became distorted,” he wrote. “Success and recognition were foremost; honesty and adherence to the law were not at the center of my focus.”

Robbins, an attorney, also resigned Tuesday from the State Bar of California as part of the agreement with prosecutors.

The announcement of the plea bargain brought a sudden, dramatic end to one of the more tumultuous careers in the state Capitol.

Described by friends and enemies alike as a brilliant tactician and fiercely ambitious politician, Robbins ran for mayor of Los Angeles in 1977 and until recently talked of running for a seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

First elected to the Senate in 1973, Robbins had become one of the ranking members of the Senate--chairman of the insurance committee and a longtime member of the Banking Committee as well. Versed in the subtleties of insurance law, he was mentioned as a possible candidate for state insurance commissioner before last year’s election.

The agreement with government prosecutors ends an investigation of Robbins that began two years ago, according to O’Connell.

Specifically, Robbins has admitted five separate racketeering acts: using his office to extort $200,000 from a California developer; trading his support for three special interest bills in exchange for $29,700 in bribes, and instructing an associate to destroy records and lie to authorities. In addition, Robbins has agreed to plead guilty to charges that he failed to report $52,800 in taxable 1988 income.

O’Connell noted that Robbins has accepted a prison sentence of five years without parole, but that the prosecutors could recommend a reduction in the term during the next year, depending on the former lawmaker’s level of cooperation.

O’Connell and the agent in charge of the Sacramento FBI office, Douglas Ball, said the Robbins investigation grew out of a federal sting operation called Brispec, for “Bribery--Special Interest.” In the sting, undercover agents posed as Southern businessmen willing to pay for legislative favors in exchange for legislation that would supposedly help them start a shrimp processing plant near Sacramento.

While Robbins played a minor role in the sting--at times advising informants how to direct payments to other lawmakers--he refused any payments for himself.

“I don’t need to be taken care of on every bill that comes through,” he told an FBI informant who was secretly wearing a recording device.

Federal authorities believed that they did not have enough evidence to convict Robbins based on his involvement in the sting. But in 1989, informants familiar with the federal investigation came forward with allegations that Robbins and California Coastal Commissioner Mark L. Nathanson extorted more than $200,000 from San Diego hotel developer Jack Naiman.

Although the charges against Robbins were deliberately left vague by Tuesday’s announcement, the alleged extortion attempt apparently figures into the racketeering count.

The government prosecutors charge that Robbins and an unnamed public official extorted more than $200,000 from an individual identified only as “a California developer.”

Robbins has also admitted, as part of the racketeering charge, that he:

* Accepted bribes totaling $12,200 in 1985 for carrying a bill that blocked an attempt by the state insurance commissioner to lower the rates for credit life and disability insurance--policies that pay off credit card accounts when holders die or can no longer work. This year, Assemblyman Lloyd G. Connelly (D-Sacramento) authored a bill that would restore the ability of the commissioner to regulate those rates, but the measure died in committee.

* Took bribes totaling $13,500 for his help with a state lottery bill by Assemblyman Rusty Areias (D-Los Banos) that would have required all game tickets be produced in California. The company that held the lottery’s initial scratch-off game contract, Georgia-based Scientific Games Inc., was the only firm to have its own printing plant in the state at the time--assuring it of a monopoly if the measure were to pass. Although the bill finally failed to win passage, Robbins provided a crucial committee vote for it.

* Accepted a bribe of $4,000 in exchange for influencing the outcome of a 1986 bill by then-Assemblywoman Jean Duffy (D-Sacramento) that would have limited the sale of alcoholic beverages at service stations. The bill died in the Assembly, without ever reaching the Senate.

* Tried to obstruct the federal investigation into his activities in 1989 by telling an associate to destroy records and lie to federal agents. The court papers filed Tuesday do not identify the individual.

No charges have been brought against anyone other than Robbins in connection with these pieces of legislation.

Lobbyist Jackson, whose offices were searched early Tuesday, has represented companies that might have an interest in legislation cited in the government’s case against Robbins. In 1986, for example, he represented GTECH Corp., one of Scientific Games’ competitors for lottery contracts. He also has worked for a number of insurance companies and associations that might have had a stake in the fight over Robbins’ credit life insurance bill.

Jackson has long been one of the state’s most influential lobbyists. He runs SRJ Jackson, Barish & Associates, a firm that has as many as six lobbyists on staff in addition to Jackson. In the first six months of the year, his firm took in $1,117,191 from 46 clients--the highest amount of any lobbying firm in Sacramento, according to the secretary of state.

Robbins’ agreement to plead guilty to the racketeering and tax fraud charges does not put an end to his difficulties with federal prosecutors.

The Los Angeles U.S. attorney’s office is continuing its own investigation into allegations that Robbins may have received improper loans from federally insured savings and banking institutions in Southern California.

Sources familiar with the banking investigation say that Robbins and his attorneys are negotiating with authorities to settle those charges as well.

Robbins is the third Democratic state senator to face prison time as a result of the Capitol political corruption probe, but the first to publicly admit his guilt.

Federal juries convicted ex-Sens. Joseph B. Montoya and Paul B. Carpenter on racketeering, extortion and related charges, but both men have appealed their convictions. Montoya has begun serving his sentence at the federal minimum security prison near the Mojave Desert community of Boron. Carpenter has remained free pending his appeal.

Responding to the news of Robbins’ guilty plea, Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti expressed the widely held view that for all his faults, personal and political, Robbins had been a fierce protector of the interest of his constituents.

“Alan Robbins served his district very well,” Roberti said, “but he let down the people of California.”

Senate Majority Leader Barry Keene (D-Benicia) suggested that Robbins’ problems were linked to the many temptations facing elected officials who must collect large amounts of campaign contributions to stay in office. “I believe that his proximity to this river of money overcame his better judgment,” Keene said.

Some political observers were less surprised at the charges of corruption than the fact that Robbins had finally been caught.

“Alan is like a cat,” said political consultant Paul Clarke. “And now when he hasn’t landed on his feet you’re really shocked.”

The federal investigation has long been dogged by allegations that it was politically biased--targeting top Democrats but leaving Republicans largely untouched.

In response to reporters’ questions, U.S. Atty. O’Connell, who was appointed to his post by President Bush, a Republican, heatedly denied that his investigation was influenced in the least by partisan politics--even though all three indicted legislators have been Democrats.

“We invite the public, we invite all the people who say this is a partisan investigation to come forward with evidence as to anyone in the government system,” O’Connell said. “If they have evidence it doesn’t matter what party, it doesn’t matter what office a person occupies, we are going to pursue it.”

He later added, “We are not going to set a quota by party or any other way as to how we are going to pursue the investigation.”

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Capitol Investigation

After serving in the Senate for 18 years and becoming one of its most powerful members, state Sen. Alan Robbins resigned from office Tuesday.

What Happened:

Robbins agreed to plead guilty to two political corruption charges, becoming the first state lawmaker to admit his guilt publicly since a major Capitol investigation was launched in 1986.

The Agreement:

* Will plead guilty next month to income tax fraud and racketeering.

* Has accepted a prison term of five years without parole.

* Will cooperate with authorities in the probe of other officials.

* In return, the U.S. attorney in Sacramento may recommend an unspecified reduction in sentence.

* Has admitted failing to report $52,800 on his 1989 federal income tax return, extorting more than $200,000 from a California developer, accepting $29,700 in exchange for action on three bills, and urging an associate to destroy records and lie to authorities.

Times staff writer Dan Morain contributed to this report.