ELECTIONS 20TH STATE SENATE DISTRICT : Roberti and Rowen Exchange Charges in Heated Radio Debate

State Senate leader David A. Roberti attacked his Republican opponent, Carol Rowen, as a “tax-shelter seller” Wednesday while denying her charges that he used his powerful Sacramento post to aid anti-abortion activists.

In a radio debate punctuated by several angry exchanges, Roberti contended that Rowen, a Tarzana pension consultant, both invested in and sold tax shelters, which he said created a heavier tax burden on the middle class while draining capital away from job-producing investments.

“You’re a tax-shelter seller. . . . You have tax shelters yourself, and people are losing their jobs, paying more taxes because of it,” Roberti said.

Earlier in the debate, Rowen criticized Roberti, an abortion foe, for showing the graphic anti-abortion film “The Silent Scream” in the Capitol and for teaching anti-abortion activists how to lobby lawmakers more effectively.

“He has used his post” to help those opposed to abortion, insisted Rowen, who has made her advocacy of legalized abortion the centerpiece of her campaign.

The exchange, broadcast on radio station KGIL-AM, came less than three weeks before the June 2 runoff election in which Roberti and Rowen are battling to replace Alan Robbins in the 20th Senate District, which covers the south-central San Fernando Valley.

Robbins resigned his seat last year and later pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges. Roberti is running in the district because his old, Hollywood-based district was largely wiped out in the recent redrawing of California electoral districts.

In an interview after the radio show, Roberti said Rowen holds an interest in a limited partnership called WEC-1984A Program, which he contended is a tax shelter set up so investors could show financial losses on oil-drilling operations. He added that she sold other types of tax shelters when she worked for Pacific Southwest Corp.

Roberti said such shelters siphon money away from investments in job-producing businesses and shift more of the tax burden to the middle class. Shelters benefit only the rich, “including Mrs. Rowen,” he said.

Rowen’s only on-air response to the accusations was to laugh. She left the studio after the show and could not be reached for comment later Wednesday.

In state-required financial disclosure documents, she said the WEC partnership is engaged in the “natural gas” business.

In a recent newspaper interview, Rowen said she worked from 1983 to 1985 as director of marketing for Pacific Southwest Corp., a financial services firm involved in tax-sheltered land investments. Tax shelters were largely eliminated by changes in the federal tax code in 1986.

Roberti also contended after the debate that Rowen--who said on the air that she opposed offshore oil drilling--bought stock in Occidental Petroleum Corp. amid a high-profile 1988 political battle over the company’s proposal to drill for oil off Pacific Palisades.

Rowen said during the show that despite Roberti’s claims to the contrary, Roberti has used his powerful position as Senate president pro tem to assist anti-abortion forces.

“This is the same man who showed ‘Silent Scream’ in the Capitol. This is the same man who brought right-to-life groups up to teach them how to lobby,” she said.

The controversial film, produced by anti-abortion activists, graphically depicts the suction abortion of a live fetus and caused outrage among abortion rights advocates when it began airing in the mid-1980s.

Roberti said copies of the film were distributed to every member of the Legislature in 1985 by anti-abortion advocates and that he “had nothing to do with . . . any kind of showing.”

He also denied “taking part in organizing a right-to-life training seminar.”

Asked if he had ever invested in a tax shelter, Roberti replied, “Not to my knowledge.”