Van de Kamp’s Backing Given to Specht in 5-Way Contest for City Attorney

California Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp chose Tuesday to endorse Lisa Specht over two other Democrats vying to be the next Los Angeles city attorney.

Van de Kamp’s endorsement is the second important one in less than a week for Specht. Last week, she landed the backing of Ira Reiner, who left the city attorney’s job to become district attorney in December.

Specht, a partner in Manatt, Phelps, Rothenberg and Tunney, a Westside law firm influential in Democratic Party politics, is locked in a five-way race for the technically nonpartisan office. She is hoping to pull enough votes in the April 9 primary to earn a slot in the June 4 runoff.

The front-runner is considered to be City Controller James Hahn, with either Specht or Community Redevelopment Agency attorney Murray Kane expected to come in second. All three are Democrats, as are Van de Kamp and Reiner.

Van de Kamp said in an interview Tuesday that he has watched Specht’s career “grow and blossom” since she was his student intern in the federal public defender’s office while she attended law school. He added that he is “impressed with her drive.”

Specht worked as a fund raiser in Van de Kamp’s successful campaigns for Los Angeles County district attorney and attorney general.

Specht considers both Reiner’s and Van de Kamp’s endorsements critical to her chances of winning a runoff spot. There will be a runoff between the top two finishers only if no single candidate gets a majority of the primary vote.

Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp said he has watched Lisa Specht’s career “grow and blossom” since she was his student intern in the federal public defender’s office nearly 15 years ago.

Other candidates include Charles Zinger and Betsy Mogul, both deputy city attorneys and both Republicans.

Specht has been criticized by both Hahn and Kane for her lack of prosecution experience. Hahn served four years as a deputy city attorney in Los Angeles; Kane served two years as a prosecutor in Culver City.

Specht has never worked as a prosecutor. She joined the Manatt Phelps law firm right after graduating from San Fernando Valley Law School, and her practice has been confined to civil cases.

Specht’s strategists believe that the endorsements by Reiner and Van de Kamp, as heads of prosecutorial offices, will help defuse the issue of her inexperience in prosecuting criminal cases.

Asked whether Specht’s prosecutorial inexperience bothers him, Van de Kamp said, “I think for any of the candidates, it would be helpful to have substantial prosecution experience. But none (of the three major candidates) have it. You’re dealing with three persons (Hahn, Kane and Specht) who have had various kinds of experience but not that much in the prosecution field.”

Van de Kamp’s backing of Specht had been expected for more than a week. Last Friday, the attorney general taped a television commercial with Specht. That ad, along with one featuring Reiner, will begin airing Friday, according to Specht campaign consultant Carl D’Agostino.

The attorney general said that both Kane and Hahn had sought his endorsement but that he believes that Specht is the most qualified.