Reiner Endorses Specht in Race for L.A. City Attorney

Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, who once said, “You can’t learn to be a prosecutor overnight,” Wednesday endorsed Lisa Specht, a lawyer with no prosecution experience, to succeed him as Los Angeles city attorney.

For more than two months, Specht’s powerful Westside Democratic supporters have been pressuring Reiner to endorse her. Reiner also was under pressure by some of his closest confidants to remain neutral in the citywide race.

Specht, 39, has the “brains and spunk” to carry on his policies on such issues as toxic waste, drunk drivers, slum lords and child abusers, Reiner said in an interview. He added that although the other major candidates, City Controller James Hahn and Murray Kane, also have pledged to carry out those policies, he has known Specht for more than a decade and is confident that she will do so.

The endorsement by Reiner, who easily won elections for city controller, city attorney and district attorney, is expected to give Specht a boost in her bid to secure at least second place in next month’s municipal primary. She is running far behind Hahn and is neck and neck with Kane, according to voter surveys conducted by two campaigns and some independent pollsters.

Reiner’s support could help Specht, who is vulnerable on the issue of experience. Both Kane and Hahn have prosecution backgrounds. Kane worked three years as a prosecutor for Culver City, and Hahn spent four years as a deputy Los Angeles city attorney.

In Reiner’s 1981 bid for city attorney, he stressed the importance of a prosecution background for anyone seeking the powerful post. Noting that his key challenger in that race, former City Councilman Bob Ronka, had never been a prosecutor, Reiner, who had four years’ experience as a city prosecutor, said at the time: “You can’t learn to be a prosecutor overnight. It’ll take Bob 5 or 10 years to properly learn that type of work.”

Asked about that earlier statement, Reiner said: “The contest between Bob Ronka and me is not the contest involving these three persons. She will be an outstanding city attorney by any measure.”

The timing of Reiner’s endorsement will allow him to appear on a commercial for Specht that will begin airing next week. Taping is expected to start Friday, according to Specht’s campaign aides.

Specht was elated by the endorsement, calling it a “big boost to the campaign . . . that helps ensure that I get into a runoff with Hahn.”

Ends Speculation

Asked about whether Reiner’s backing would help counter Kane’s and Hahn’s charges that she lacks prosecution experience, Specht said: “Yes, I think the fact that the chief prosecutor for the county who was the chief prosecutor for the city has endorsed me should end any speculation about whether or not I am the best candidate for this job.”

Reiner said last month that he might remain neutral in the hotly contested race, adding that he did not believe that his endorsement would significantly affect the outcome. But powerful backers of Specht, including members of the Westside’s Waxman-Berman political organization and members of Specht’s law firm, Manatt, Phelps, Rothenberg & Tunney, lobbied Reiner for his backing.

At the same time, several of Reiner’s close friends tried to persuade him to remain neutral in the race, fearing that an endorsement of Specht would offend county Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, Controller Hahn’s father. The elder Hahn votes on Reiner’s district attorney’s budget.

The same Reiner confidants said Wednesday that they no longer feel that the elder Hahn will retaliate.