Roberti ‘Trying to Buy Election,’ Other Side Says

Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti has contributed $200,000 of his own political funds in an effort to defeat two campaign financing initiatives on the June 7 ballot, prompting backers of one measure Wednesday to accuse the legislative leader of trying “to buy the election.”

Roberti’s contribution, by far the largest donation to the campaign opposing Propositions 68 and 73, signals that the opposition camp is likely to raise sufficient funds to launch a television and direct mail effort in the final days before the election.

“It’s starting to trickle (in),” said Carl D’Agostino, one of the managers of the opposition campaign. “We won’t have an enormous amount of money to spend. It’s certainly going to help in running TV spots.”

Roberti has been a leading opponent of both propositions, which seek to limit the size of campaign contributions in legislative races and ban the transfer of campaign funds from one candidate to another--a technique the powerful Los Angeles Democrat has used to help his allies win election.

Proposition 68, which has the backing of some corporate leaders, Common Cause, the League of Women Voters and a large number of other groups, would also provide matching tax dollars to candidates who agree to abide by voluntary limits on the amount of money they spend in campaigns.

In contrast, Proposition 73, which was sponsored by three legislators and has little other backing, contains no spending limits and would ban the use of tax dollars to finance local, legislative or statewide campaigns.

Supporters of Proposition 68, who had worried that their opponents would seek to defeat the measure with a barrage of television ads just before the primary, lashed out at Roberti for the huge donation from two legislative campaign committees he controls.

“It’s outrageous that he’s attempting to buy the election,” said Fredric Woocher, a spokesman for the pro-Proposition 68 campaign. “We feared that this was coming. They know their position is indefensible so instead they hide in the closet until the last week and then dump all their money into the campaign to try and buy the votes.”

In response, Roberti pointed out that he has been outspoken in his opposition to Proposition 68 and criticized the initiative’s public financing plan that could provide matching tax dollars to members of extremist groups who run for office.

‘Up Front and Candid’

“I have been up front and candid from the beginning in my opposition to this measure,” Roberti said. “I have no intention of sitting back idly and letting Lyndon LaRouche and the Ku Klux Klan get an open invitation to spread their hate message with taxpayers’ dollars. If it takes $200,000 to stop them--or even more--so be it.”

By the end of the day, the opponents of the two initiatives had reported to Secretary of State March Fong Eu that they had received a total of $215,000 in contributions so far this week. A report of their fund raising covering the two-month period that ended last Saturday is not due until Friday.

Al Pross, finance director for the California Medical Assn. who is spearheading the No on Propositions 68 and 73 campaign, said his group now expects to receive at least $1.1 million--still short of the $2 million they had hoped to raise.

Pross said that “$1.1 million to $1.3 million isn’t enough for us to be able to do all the things we would like to do. Our media buy would not be as extensive in geography or scope as we would like it to be.”

According to D’Agostino, the opposition campaign will begin filming several television ads today but has not yet purchased any TV time to air the spots.

Proponents Raise $400,000

The campaign in support of Proposition 68 has raised about $400,000 in cash and in-kind contributions, Woocher said. The proponents also plan to produce several television ads this week and have already begun buying some TV time in the days before the election.

In contrast to Roberti’s $200,000 donation, the backers of Proposition 68 have received some corporate donations of as much as $30,000 in cash and in-kind services. But most of their contributions have come in small amounts.

For example, on Tuesday night, the pro-Proposition 68 campaign raised $8,000 at a fund-raiser at the Brentwood home of liberal activist Stanley Sheinbaum.