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Gaithersburg City Council candidate Tom Rowse has filed a campaign finance complaint against incumbent Michael A. Sesma and council members Cathy Drzyzula and Jud Ashman questioning their use of funds from previous elections.

Rowse filed the formal complaint Tuesday with the city's Board of Supervisors of Elections.

"They're not supposed to carry forward money from their previous election. The only people supposed to carry money forward are the five people running in this election," he said.

A city committee revised the election code last year with the help of City Attorney Lynn Board, after 2007 elections brought a campaign finance investigation — and revelations that the code had not been updated in more than 20 years. Board did not return calls for comment.

"I think that the code that we have is very poor, at best," Rowse said.

His complaint points to Sesma's campaign finance report filed Sept. 21, which shows that he gathered his funds from June 1, 2006 to Sept. 21, 2009 and carried over $217.81 plus interest from his previous campaign.

Sesma's report submitted Oct. 5 notes $100 in cash and in-kind contributions valued at $92.51 from The Ashman Campaign and $92.51 in-kind donation from the Cathy D for Council Campaign.

A passage in the old code required candidates in 2005 and 2007 to disperse campaign funds, Rowse said in his complaint. Revisions that allow candidates to carry over funds went effective in July.

"Complete disclosure is the responsibility of all the candidates and I've tried to do that," said Sesma, who said he does not believe he has violated the spirit or letter of the law.

Ashman has also given Sesma in-kind donations, including graphics work, from his company The Elegant Envelope. Contributions do not exceed $500.

"The old law was contradictory," Drzyzgula said. "It told you what you should do if you get rid of [campaign funds] and it told you what you should do if you kept them....I thought that we changed the law," she said. "It's always been legal for one campaign to contribute to another, we talked about that when we updated and it is still allowed."

Her campaign gave Sesma door hangers from her and Ashman's campaigns, Drzyzgula said. Her fund has $46 cash remaining from $50 she contributed after she was elected to maintain ownership of her campaign Web site and domain.

Drzyzgula has given Sesma $250 cash, according to Sesma's filings.

The election board meets tonight to review campaign finance reports, said Wilson Faris, who is new to the board and ran for council in 2007.

The revised code shows that election code violations could be punishable by a misdemeanor and disqualification or removal from office.

Richard Koch, who is running against Mayor Sidney A. Katz, missed Monday's filing deadline but said Tuesday that he has raised no funds since Oct. 5, when his reported contributions totaled $1,958.82. Katz's most recent report shows he has collected more than $2,680.

Henry F. Marraffa Jr. also missed Monday's deadline. He said he has collected about $1,550 total. Sesma has collected $2,913.27 to-date.

Rowse, a newcomer to city politics is leading the pack and has collected a total $3,117, including $3,022 collected since Oct. 6.