Rivals File Dueling Ethics Complaints

Escalating the bitterness in the Democratic race for governor, state Controller Steve Westly and state Treasurer Phil Angelides on Thursday filed separate ethics complaints that accused each other of violating California’s campaign finance laws.

The dueling complaints to the Fair Political Practices Commission come days before a state party convention at which members will vote whether to endorse either man. A statewide poll this week showed that they are in a tight race leading to the June 6 primary, with many voters undecided.

Westly’s accusations against Angelides involve one of the most contentious issues in political campaigns: independent efforts to help candidates get elected. With new limits on how much money candidates can raise, more groups are being created to run television ads and otherwise support the candidates -- free of such limits.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger benefited this year from a series of TV ads produced and paid for by some of his wealthiest contributors and coordinated by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Schwarzenegger denied working with the chamber on the ads. The group has not revealed its donors.

Late in the afternoon, after finding out about Westly’s complaint, Angelides filed his own.

Angelides’ complaint against Westly accuses him of improperly using money from a campaign account created to finance his state controller race. Angelides contends that Westly used money from the controller account for things such as rent and conference calls for his gubernatorial campaign. California law requires the accounts to remain separate.

Nick Velasquez, a spokesman for Westly, said Angelides’ FPPC complaint was “ridiculous” and an attempt to distract voters from his own ethics problems.

In his complaint Thursday, Westly accused Angelides of working “exceedingly close” with a Sacramento developer -- the treasurer’s former business partner -- on $5 million in commercials that feature firefighters and police officers making an emotional appeal that supports Angelides for governor.

Unlike Schwarzenegger’s ads, the spot lists the major funders of the effort, namely the developer and his daughter.

Under state law, candidates are not allowed to request independent ads or provide strategic advice for them, because the money that pays for them far exceeds the contribution limits for candidates. Angelides cannot raise more than $22,300 from any one source.

The Sacramento developer funding the ads, Angelo K. Tsakopoulos, has been Angelides’ biggest supporter and donor -- even paying Angelides $488,000 over the last seven years as income from previous business deals. State finance records show about $3 million in campaign donations from Tsakopoulos, his family members and others associated with him.

Tsakopoulos’ attorney denied any coordination with Angelides on the ads. He said Tsakopoulos and his daughter, Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis, had been considering running their own TV ads when they were approached by a group of firefighters and police union officials seeking funds for such an effort.

Tsakopoulos donated $3.75 million and his daughter pitched in $1.25 million. The California Professional Firefighters union donated about $11,000 for production costs, along with the Peace Officers Research Assn. of California and the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriff’s Assn.

“There was no coordination,” said Tsakopoulos’ attorney, Ben Davidian, a former chairman of the FPPC. Regarding Westly’s complaint, he said: “There is nothing to it. It is a political stunt, and that is what it will be shown to be.”

Carroll Wills, a spokesman for the firefighters group, said they first approached Tsakopoulos because they knew that the developer had a long history with Angelides and would probably support the effort. “He just seemed like a natural,” Wills said.

Angelides’ campaign manager, Cathy Calfo, said in a statement that Angelides “learned of the independent expenditure campaign only through news accounts.”

Garry South, a senior advisor to Westly, said the links between Tsakopoulos and Angelides are so close that the developer could be considered an “agent” of his campaign -- and should be barred under the law from paying for the ads.

South said: “Trying to de-link these two people is like trying to separate Barbara and Jenna Bush. To suggest there has been no connection, no communication, no coordination ... just literally defies belief.”

In a separate complaint to the FPPC, Westly accused Angelides of using a political committee he created, Standing Up for California, to do “electioneering” for his campaign for governor.

The Standing Up political committee can raise money in unlimited amounts, but under the law can advocate only for ballot measures, not Angelides’ campaign. The complaint said the Standing Up committee runs a website that is virtually identical to the Angelides campaign website and tells potential voters: “As governor, Phil Angelides will offer a real plan to make California the world’s leader in reducing oil consumption.”

Calfo’s statement did not address the accusations about the committee except to say that Angelides “supports clean money laws.”