Few Attend Meeting on Roberti Recall : Politics: Organizers say they’re undaunted in their effort to force the Democratic senator from Van Nuys out of office.

Only about a dozen people turned up Sunday at a meeting to organize a recall of state Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys), including several who were either candidates seeking to replace him or representatives of other political wanna-bes.

But recall leaders said they were undaunted by the tiny turnout, saying they believe that they will succeed in throwing Roberti out of office April 12, less than nine months before he must leave anyway under term limits.

Anti-Roberti forces last month qualified the recall election for the ballot, submitting more than 23,000 valid voter signatures. The recall marks only the fourth time since 1912 that such an initiative has reached the ballot.

Recall leaders have criticized Roberti for “buying” his Van Nuys seat in an expensive 1992 campaign after he was reapportioned out of his old, Hollywood-based district. They also have attacked him for appointing as committee chairmen three other senators later convicted on corruption charges and for his sponsorship of a landmark 1989 ban on semiautomatic assault guns.

Bill Dominguez, who chairs the recall group, said he was not discouraged because the group also has discussed possible partnerships with Californians for Law and Order, a statewide group, as well as the group backing the “Three Strikes You’re Out” initiative, which seeks to make life sentences mandatory for people convicted of three felony crimes.

Dominguez and Dolores White, the recall group’s secretary, have filed to be candidates if the recall succeeds. Their names will appear on the same ballot with Roberti’s.

John Popp, 58, of Reseda, who belongs to Ross Perot’s United We Stand, America, organization and the National Rifle Assn., as well as the recall group, said the turnout was typical of the voter apathy that has allowed corruption and incompetence to flourish in Sacramento.

“Until we can fill this room and have people standing in line to get into this place, people have got the kind of government they deserve,” he said.

The main theme at the recall meeting, held in the auditorium of the Encino Community Center, was to rid the state Legislature of Roberti and replace him with a candidate representing the recall group, known formally as the Coalition to Restore Government Integrity.

Besides those seeking Roberti’s job, several people representing candidates for other offices took the opportunity to stump for a few votes.

Gary Forsch, a Republican candidate for the seat of Rep. Howard Berman (D-Panorama City), said he came to lend support to the “Dump Dave” backers, and troll for some votes of his own.

Elliott Graham, who heads the Los Angeles County chapter of the American Pistol and Rifle Assn., came to represent John Stites, who is running against Sheriff Sherman Block. Another man supporting Richard Sybert, a Woodland Hills businessman running for Congress, came in the hopes of winning votes.

Throughout the recall effort, Roberti has criticized his opponents for their ties to anti-gun control organizations, which have denounced his successful efforts to ban semiautomatic assault guns.

Roberti aides have said they respect such special interest groups, especially in low voter turnout special elections. The recall group needs a simple majority to remove Roberti, who would be replaced by one of eight candidates whose names will appear on the recall ballot with him.