Group Claims Hurtt Violated Campaign Law : Politics: Common Cause asks state probe of its allegations against the Garden Grove Republican and two organizations he supports. Legislator rejects the complaint.

A political watchdog group charged Thursday that state Sen. Rob Hurtt, an Orange County Republican who vaulted into office this year vowing to help elect more conservatives, violated contribution limits along with two political organizations he supports.

California Common Cause has asked state authorities to investigate its allegations that Hurtt and the groups tried to circumvent the law while contributing $7,500 to a Republican candidate in a recent special election for Northern California’s 4th Senate District.

Hurtt said in a press release that he “categorically rejects” the complaint, calling it “insubstantial” and “nothing more than a feeble attempt” to drum up media coverage of charges “Common Cause knows to be utterly groundless.” In addition, Hurtt said he is confident that he remains “well within the boundaries of California election law and ethical standards.”

But officials of Common Cause said the complaint with the state Fair Political Practices Commission was well grounded in research, and should serve as a warning shot for elected officials and candidates in special elections. “We want contributors to know that we are watching,” said Ruth Holton, the group’s executive director.

The allegations take on particular significance because Hurtt has expressed a desire to oust Senate GOP leader Ken Maddy, a moderate from Fresno, when lawmakers reconvene early next year.

Hurtt, a wealthy Garden Grove businessman, financed his own special-election campaign last winter on a platform laced with conservative Christian values. Bolstered by alliances with four other wealthy businessmen, including millionaire banking heir Howard Ahmanson of Irvine, Hurtt has talked of bankrolling candidates in hopes of wrenching the Legislature away from the Democratic Party and boosting himself to a leadership position.

A first step in that direction was the race for the 4th Senate District, where Hurtt and Maddy supported opposing candidates.

Hurtt’s candidate, businessman Maurice Johannessen, trounced moderate Bev Hansen, a former Assembly member supported by Maddy, in the Aug. 31 primary. Johannessen faces a runoff Nov. 2 against candidates from other parties, but the convincing primary victory makes him a heavy favorite to capture the district, which straddles the northern Sacramento Valley.

The race prompted the complaint from Common Cause. The watchdog group contends in a six-page complaint that two political organizations--Allied Business PAC and Citizens for Change--should be registered with the state as political committees controlled by Hurtt. Since March, Hurtt and his Garden Grove company, which manufactures decorative tins and restaurant-sized food containers, have contributed $25,000 to each of the political groups.

Under Hurtt’s hand, Common Cause contends, the groups violated a state ban on transferring money to a candidate from a political organization controlled by an elected official.

Allied Business PAC contributed $2,500 to Johannessen in August and another $2,500 in September. Citizens for Change gave him $2,500 in August.

Common Cause also charged that Citizens for Change should be registered as a “sponsored committee” of Allied Business PAC because it is funded entirely by the political group and two Allied members. Citizens for Change has received more than $97,000 from Allied Business PAC, $25,000 from Hurtt’s firm and $5,000 from Ed Atsinger, a member of Allied’s leadership group. In addition, both political groups are registered under the same address in Ontario, Calif.

As a sponsored committee of Allied, Citizens for Change’s $2,500 contribution should be aggregated with those made by its sister organization, Common Cause asserted in its complaint. Taken together, those contributions exceed the $2,500 limit for donations to candidates from political action committees, the watchdog group argued.

Holton said the complaint was delivered to the FPPC and Hurtt on Thursday. Jeanette Turvill, an FPPC spokeswoman, said it is the agency’s policy neither to confirm nor deny receiving a complaint nor to talk about an investigation.

Under current state law, only special elections are covered under contribution limits imposed by Proposition 73 in 1988.