ELECTIONS / 20TH STATE SENATE DISTRICT : Roberti, Rowen Trade Volleys Over ’75 Municipal Court ‘Criminal Case’

For news reporters covering the heated race between state Sen. David A. Roberti and challenger Carol Rowen, it was an intriguing press release: a demand by Roberti’s camp that Rowen explain why someone with her name was a defendant in “a criminal case” in 1975.

But when the smoke cleared Thursday, the case turned out to be something less than the political bombshell that Roberti implied. In fact, it seemed to boil down to a ticket, issued to someone who may or may not have been candidate Rowen, for an offense that nobody seemed able to specify.

Rowen, a Tarzana Republican who has never run for office before, angrily denied that she has ever been arrested or been a defendant in a criminal proceeding, and attacked Roberti for implying that she had.

“He is just so desperate--so desperate--to do something like this,” she said. “It’s a reflection on his character. There is no depth to which he will not sink.”

On the other hand, Rowen couldn’t say for certain that she isn’t the Carol L. Rowen named in Case No. 6326287, listed at the Los Angeles Municipal Court in Van Nuys.

“To the best of my knowledge, it wasn’t me. There are other . . . Carol Rowens,” she said.

A court clerk said the case probably involved a ticket. But court officials could not say what offense was involved, since tickets are routinely destroyed after 10 years. Nor could they provide the birth date of the recipient.

A clerk said she also couldn’t tell if the ticket was an infraction, such as a parking offense, or a misdemeanor, which could cover offenses such as reckless driving.

Roberti and Rowen are locked in a tight race to represent the 20th state Senate District, which covers Van Nuys and the south-central portions of the San Fernando Valley.

Roberti, a Democrat who is the powerful Senate president pro tem, is running in the Tuesday special election for the Valley seat because his current, Hollywood-based district was erased by the recent court-ordered reapportionment.

Roberti’s press secretary, Steven Glazer, touched off the controversy over the court case Thursday by faxing to reporters copies of a letter he sent to Rowen saying that “a criminal case was filed against a Carol Lorra Rowen . . . on April 30, 1975.” Candidate Rowen’s middle name is Lorraine.

“If they arrested you, does your promise of honesty with the voters apply to this situation?” Glazer demanded of Rowen.

“I am sure there is a fair explanation for your conduct during what must have been a very memorable event,” he wrote.

Glazer said the case was discovered by Democratic Party researchers commissioned to dig into public records for information on Rowen and her past.

Bob Mulholland, the party’s political director, said two or three researchers have worked on Rowen. The research has cost about $4,800, he said.

Glazer stressed that he was not accusing Rowen of any crime and that Roberti does not intend to publicize the court case to voters through campaign brochures or other means.

He conceded that Roberti has no information to contradict Rowen’s position on the court case but denied trying to manipulate reporters into a position where they would do the work of eliciting details from her that could damage her campaign.

“It wasn’t leaked,” he said of his letter to Rowen. “It was just given to you so the question could be asked. . . . We think she has a responsibility to answer the question” of whether she was the person named in the court case.

Rowen called the letter a “cheap, dirty, vile, disgusting thing.” Referring to Roberti, she said it was “so typical of the way this man works.”

Asked if he intended to apologize to Rowen, Glazer replied: “I’ll think about it.”