Attorney general candidates face off in candidate forum

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Republican attorney general hopeful John Eastman played the odd-man-out at a forum for candidates running to become the state’s top prosecutor Monday evening, serving as a foil for six Democratic contenders who appeared in lockstep on several issues, including immigration and consumer protection.

Eastman took an early swipe at his two Republican primary opponents for avoiding the event in Culver City. L.A. County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, Eastman said, was attending a Norwegian Constitution Day dinner and ‘debating the hot issue of whether Leif Ericson or Christopher Columbus discovered America. I think that there are things going on here that are more important.’

Cooley campaign strategist Kevin Spillane hit back, saying that Cooley was honoring prior commitments. ‘This is just more whining from the Eastman campaign, which is desperate to get attention,’ Spillane said by phone.

Despite Eastman’s opening salvo, the forum, which was hosted by the nonprofit public interest law firm Bet Tzedek Legal Services, offered little of the rancor that has marked the primary campaigns so far, particularly the attacks between former Facebook executive Chris Kelly and San Francisco Dist. Atty. Kamala Harris.

Eastman, the former dean at Chapman School of Law, offered a sharp contrast to the Democrats on a variety of topics.

All of the Democrats criticized Arizona’s new immigration law, with Assemblyman Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) calling it a ‘travesty’ and Assemblyman Pedro Nava (D-Santa Barbara) describing it as an ‘abomination.’ Eastman defended the new law as constitutional and accused its critics of ‘demagoguery.’

The Democrats said the next attorney general should take the lead on dealing with the foreclosure crisis, with several faulting banks for failing to treat borrowers fairly. Rocky Delgadillo touted his prosecutions of criminals who tried to swindle mortgage owners out of their homes when he served as Los Angeles city attorney. Eastman said borrowers who committed fraud should also be prosecuted. ‘It’s easy to beat up on the banks,’ he said.

And Eastman said he would support Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman’s proposal for a one-year moratorium on a host of regulations aimed at curbing greenhouse gases that was signed into law in 2006.

‘Meg Whitman, if she’s governor and I’m attorney general, she’s going to have a lot of problems,’ responded state Assemblyman Alberto Torrico (D-Fremont).

While disagreeing with Eastman, the Democrats avoided criticism of each other with only three weeks of campaigning left before the June 8 primary.

‘I can say I’m going to miss you guys,’ Harris said to her opponents at the forum. Then, laughing as she looked at Kelly sitting next to her, she added: ‘kinda.’

-- Jack Leonard