Davis Ally Says Issa Broke Law in Recall Drive

An ally of Gov. Gray Davis said Wednesday that she would file a legal complaint today charging Rep. Darrell Issa with illegally raising money for the recall campaign against the governor.

Raquelle de la Rocha, a San Fernando Valley lawyer and Davis appointee on the state Parks and Recreation Commission, said she would submit the complaint to the Federal Election Commission.

It accuses Issa, a Vista Republican, of violating the federal McCain-Feingold campaign finance law by soliciting nearly $500,000 in corporate and “soft money” donations to the Rescue California committee that he set up to support a Davis recall.

The law bars federal officeholders from seeking donations of corporate or “soft” money -- the unlimited contributions that Congress has tried to eliminate.

Issa was traveling in the Middle East on Wednesday and could not be reached for comment. But Scott Taylor, an Issa campaign advisor, said: “This is obviously a frivolous complaint brought by a stooge of Gray Davis to try and intimidate supporters of the recall.”

Issa has solicited donations to Rescue California, but he has been careful to comply with all federal restrictions, Taylor said.

“He’s never asked for a specific amount of money,” Taylor said. He called the complaint “a desperate act by Gray Davis.”

The complaint comes after weeks of efforts by supporters of the Democratic governor to tarnish Issa’s image, in part by reminding the media that the congressman was charged with stealing a red Maserati when he was 18. (The case was dropped.)

The fund-raising allegations are the latest sign of the attempt by the governor and his allies to take the offensive against the recall campaign now that Issa has begun plowing some of his vast fortune into the effort to oust Davis.

Two Davis administration officials -- Steve Smith and Eric Bauman -- have taken leaves of absence to work on a campaign to stop recall supporters from gathering all the petition signatures they need to get their proposal on the ballot.

Coordinating the effort will be the newly formed Taxpayers Against the Recall committee, led by Smith. The panel will pay the legal fees for the fund-raising complaint against Issa, according to de la Rocha, a former president of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission.

“The congressman has been pretty visible in his fund-raising efforts,” de la Rocha said. “In some ways, it’s been blatant.”

Among her allegations:

* Issa directed $445,000 in donations from Greene Properties Inc. to Rescue California. Issa is the corporation’s chief executive officer.

* He solicited a $50,000 donation from the Lincoln Club of Orange County. (Club President Michael Capaldi denied that Issa asked for the money, saying: “We talked before we made the contribution to find out what his plans were, but the initiative, the impetus, came from us.”)

* Issa solicited donations to Rescue California during a recent conference call with two dozen major GOP contributors.

The complaint also says Issa solicited money in excess of federal limits from the Morongo Indian Tribe Council.

Davis appeared at a groundbreaking for a proposed Morongo casino west of Palm Springs on Wednesday, but said the visit was unrelated to the recall.

Morongo Chairman Maurice Lyons said Davis “has not asked for our support, at least not yet.”

Lyons said Issa “came down to visit us too, but it’s not just us. All tribes are getting telephone calls. Our tribal council will decide what we will do.”

Times staff writers Hugo Martin and Louis Sahagun contributed to this report.