2 Groups Accused of Campaign Violations : Election: Complaint says the organizations failed to file funding reports. Both are seeking to recall state Sen. David Roberti.

Two groups seeking to oust state Sen. David Roberti in an upcoming April 12 recall election were accused Monday of violating state laws that require them to disclose who is funding their political activities.

In a complaint filed with the state Fair Political Practices Commission, the Coalition to Restore Government Integrity and Californians Against Corruption were accused of failing to file two campaign finance reports each, one that was due Jan. 31, the other March 3.

“They are denying voters the right to know,” said Cecilia Gallardo, local government affairs director for California Common Cause, the private political watchdog organization that filed Monday’s complaint. Common Cause urged the FPPC to seek an injunction against the two anti-Roberti groups, forcing the two groups to immediately submit their reports.

The FPPC enforces the state Political Reform Act, requiring candidates and organizations that raise more than $1,000 to periodically file reports showing who contributed money to them and how they spent the money.

Meanwhile, the Roberti campaign accused its foes of not filing the disclosure statements to hide the fact that the recall effort is primarily funded by “assault weapons extremists” seeking revenge against Roberti because of his support of a 1989 ban on military-style semiautomatic rifles.

Staci Walters, campaign press secretary for Roberti, also claimed that Californians Against Corruption has a history of abusing the state’s Political Reform Act, even when it appears to comply.

In the past, she noted, the group’s FPPC disclosure reports failed to show a $5,000 contribution from the National Rifle Assn. and another $1,000 from California Gun Owners Assn.

The FPPC declined to comment on the complaint.

Meanwhile, Californians Against Corruption spokesman, Russ Howard, said his group fully intends to file a disclosure report soon.

“We’re a grass-roots organization,” Howard said Monday. “We don’t have a full-time, paid campaign consultant or campaign accountant, like Roberti does. We had to make a choice, either file the report or get out a piece of campaign mail. We don’t have the resources to do both.

“We decided we were not going to sacrifice our right to participate in the democratic process and our right to get our message out to voters in order to do the FPPC filing,” he said. “We’re not trying to hide anything.”

The entire anti-Roberti coalition, Howard said, probably raised $100,000 in campaign contributions during the last six months of 1993 to fund its drive to qualify the recall for the ballot.

Asked about the sources of the money, Howard said that he has never tried to hide the fact that much of the money has come from “firearms rights people.”

Part of the complaint filed Monday was that the anti-Roberti groups did not file reports covering the last six months of 1993.

Howard declined to give an estimate of how much money that Californians Against Corruption had raised and spent since Jan. 1. The Roberti foes were required to file a statement on March 3 covering their financial activities for the first two months of 1994.