CAMPAIGN JOURNAL : Smith, Reiner--Underdog Keeps Plugging Away

The candidate for attorney general badly needs exposure in Southern California, so the other day he held a press conference right in front of his opponent’s Los Angeles office.

But as the reporters gathered around and the lone TV camera switched on, everything went wrong.

“I’ve asked . . .” shouted Arlo Smith over the traffic on Temple Street.

Suddenly, no words would come out.

“Uh, excuse me,” he said finally after a mighty clearing of his throat.

“I’ve asked Ira Reiner, district attorney of San Francisco. . . .”

Whoops, wrong county.

Reiner is the district attorney of Los Angeles County.

Smith, in fact, is the district attorney of San Francisco County. And as he tries to get the Democratic nomination for attorney general, reality has set in.

Not only does Reiner avoid gaffes when the TV cameras are rolling, he has an enormous advantage in the attorney general’s race because of years of media exposure in Southern California, where most of the state’s votes are.

A California Poll last October found that Reiner was known by 55% of all registered Democrats; Smith was known by only 17%.

Still, Smith keeps hammering away, and he can point to some pluses.

Both the National Organization for Women and the main police union in the state, the Police Officers’ Research Assn., have endorsed him. It is the kind of left-right support Smith got when he came from nowhere to beat the incumbent district attorney 11 years ago in San Francisco.

These days Smith spends most of his weekends meeting with Democratic activists and potential contributors in Southern California. And to show how serious he is, Smith, who has personal family wealth, recently put $500,000 of his own money into the campaign.

In addition to a solid record as San Francisco district attorney, he can argue that he would make a good attorney general because he was a deputy in that office for 20 years.

But he knows he is going to have to shout to get attention.

“Mr. Reiner should stand up and take responsibility for his actions,” Smith yelled the other day across from Reiner’s office on Temple Street.

Three buses roared by and nearly drowned him out.

Smith blasted away at Reiner for the recent revelations that some jailhouse informants used by Reiner’s staff concocted or twisted the information they gave to the prosecutors.

Reiner maintains that the concern of some of his aides about using the informants never reached him, and he has moved to institute safeguards.

But on the day Smith showed up on Reiner’s turf, Reiner was far to the north, testifying about pending legislation in Sacramento.

Reiner’s campaign manager, Sam Singer, ridiculed the notion that Smith actually wanted a confrontation.

“Come on. It has been public knowledge for weeks that Ira would be in Sacramento testifying,” said Singer. “Arlo Smith does not really want to go face to face with the Silver Eagle.”

The Silver Eagle?

“My name for Ira,” explained Singer, “because of his silver hair and steady eyes.”

Singer has no nickname for Arlo Smith, a bald man with a mild manner. But the way Reiner is totally ignoring him, it could be The Gnat.

“Why would we pay attention to Arlo Smith when his only major supporter is Arlo Smith?” said Singer, referring to Smith’s $500,000 contribution to his own campaign.

A former San Francisco political consultant familiar with Smith’s career warned, however, that Reiner may find it impossible to ignore him before the voters finally have their say in the June 5 Democratic primary.

“Behind Arlo’s milquetoast exterior is one of the toughest, meanest people you will ever meet,” said the consultant, who requested anonymity.

“He was a 3% in the polls when he started running for San Francisco D.A. and he wound up with 76% of the vote. The way he did it was to stay on the attack.”

In that race, Smith beat an incumbent district attorney who had angered gays and police during his tenure.

But this time there is no indication so far that Democratic voters are displeased with Reiner in the attorney general’s race.

He led Smith by 36% to 23% in the California Poll taken in October. Smith had gained 10 points since a previous survey, but Reiner had not dropped any.

But the number of undecided voters in the attorney general’s race was 40% in that poll, and that is what keeps Smith going.

“It’s frustrating but I just have to keep plugging away,” he said before heading off to another stop in Southern California.