Roberti recall groups release fiscal reports : campaigns: the disclosure comes a week after a state agency was asked to prosecute the movement for failure to file finance statements.

Two groups fighting to recall state Sen. David Roberti (D-Van Nuys) released their delinquent campaign finance reports Monday showing they had raised $164,000 since July 1, 1993, much of it

in individual donations under $100. “We have nothing to hide,” said attorney Kevin Washburn as he and other leaders of the anti-Roberti effort publicly released the campaign disclosure

reports one week after a state agency had been asked to prosecute the recall movement for failing to file its reports. The Roberti camp has charged that its foes have been withholding the

reports because they would reveal that the recall is being financed by gun lobby interests. Roberti claims that the effort is the work of gun interests angry at him for his 1989 law banning

assault weapons. He faces an April 12 recall election. But Washburn and others said the real reason the groups--Californians Against Corruption and Coalition to Restore Government

Integrity--have released their reports late is because the groups are grass-roots organizations that rely on volunteer help to get their work done. The reports, disclosing financial

contributions and expenditures, are required to be filed under penalty of perjury by the state Political Reform Act. The finance reports released Monday showed that the Californians Against

Corruption raised $101,129 between July 1, 1993, and March 3, 1994. During the same period, the Coalition to Restore Government Integrity, the group credited with organizing the recall,

raised $63,588. The role of gun interests was evident from the statements, with more than half a dozen of the largest contributors, who gave $1,000 each, being gun or ammunition makers. It

was unclear from the reports if the hundreds of small contributors involved were members of gun rights groups or part of the firearms industry. Additionally, Washburn found himself

contradicted Monday after he told reporters that the recall received $30,000 from a victims’ rights group, the California Voters Alliance, and held up the alliance contribution as proof of

the recall movement’s diversity. But Jerry Allen, head of the alliance, later told reporters in a conference call set up by Washburn that his group was indeed closely tied to gun lobby

interests. “We’re an anti-crime group that thinks gun control is a phony solution to the problem (of crime),” said Allen, who also acknowledged that his group’s primary contributors were gun

owners. In fact, the group’s 1993 campaign statement showed that it bought lists of gun owners to identify potential contributors to the anti-Roberti fight. Meanwhile, Staci Walters,

Roberti’s press secretary, said “it is interesting to note that these groups--who claim to be good government activists--have only filed their campaign reports after being threatened with

litigation.” Last week, California Common Cause, a nonprofit political reform group, urged the state Fair Political Practices Commission to file charges against the recall movement for

failing to file its reports. Walters also noted that the reports released Monday failed to disclose, as required, the contributions of weapons made to Californians Against Corruption by

several firearms makers. The manufacturers’ gifts were the prizes offered in a raffle held by Californians Against Corruption to raise money for the anti-Roberti fight. Russ Howard, a leader

of the group, said his group knew of the oversight and would file an amended report to reflect the gifts, including a semiautomatic rifle. MORE TO READ