A consultant working with the state Democratic party said she's filed a complaint with the FCC over commercials Republican Abram Wilson is running in his 15th Assembly District campaign.

Robin Swanson of Swanson Communications said the commercials state that they're paid for by Wilson's Assembly campaign, when the California Republican Party actually paid for them.

The reason, she said, is so that Wilson, the mayor of San Ramon, can avoid running as a Republican in a district that favors Democrats in voter registration.

"He's trying to identify himself as something that he's not," she said.

In one of Wilson's commercials, a speaker identifies him as a Republican, while there is no party label in another. The text on the commercial states that it was paid for by "Friends of Abram Wilson."

Swanson said state Democrats first raised the issue about 10 days ago, and appealed to both Wilson's campaign and the TV stations running the ad to change the disclaimer text seen at the end of the commercial.

"It's really a simple fix," she said. "All they would have to do is change the disclaimer."

When the campaign refused to do so, Swanson said, she filed the FCC complaint earlier this week, though she admitted that she's not sure the commission will act on the complaint before the election.

Wilson's campaign manager, Matthew Del Carlo, said Democrats are mistaken in their attempts to have the ads rejected.

He said that in a similar case in 2006, both California courts and the state Fair Political Practices Commission found the ads to be lawful.

"That's why we're not taking anything down," Del Carlo said. "This is a political stunt by Joan's camp."

When the issue was first raised by Democrats who sent a cease-and-desist letter over the commercials, the Wilson campaign sent the TV stations a letter telling them the ads were within the boundaries of the law.

In the letter, which Del Carlo provided a copy of to PolitickerCA.com last week, an attorney for Wilson's campaign dismisses the first letter as a political stunt.

"Mr. Reyes letter is nothing more than an 11th-hour political ploy seeking an advantage for Mr. Wilson's opponent," attorney Brian Hildreth writes in the letter, referring to Democrat Joan Buchanan. "Mr. Reyes' letter is wholly without merit and wholly unsupported by the facts."

The 15th Assembly District race, in which Wilson and Buchanan are trying to replace termed-out Assemblyman Guy Houston (R-Dublin), is one of the most hotly contested in the state.

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