Reiner Begins His Run for State Attorney General : Politics: L.A. County’s district attorney paints himself as a ‘people’s lawyer’ tough on crime and polluters.

Flanked by a pair of activist Hollywood celebrities, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner formally kicked off his campaign for state attorney general Thursday by declaring himself a pro-choice, pro-environment, pro-active “people’s lawyer.”

“It is not the responsibility of the attorney general to be a corporate lawyer for the state, it is the responsibility of the attorney general to be the people’s lawyer and to see that those laws are enforced that are passed by the people,” said Reiner, 54, at news conferences in Burbank and on the steps of the state Capitol in Sacramento.

Film stars Ed Begley Jr. and Theresa Saldana, neither of whom accompanied Reiner to Sacramento, praised the two-term county prosecutor for his record on toxic pollution and on violent crime.

“He’s been very, very open to victim’s rights groups,” said Saldana, a leading activist on the subject since she was stabbed in 1982.

“I see Ira Reiner at all the best places, and I don’t mean Hollywood parties and fancy restaurants. I remember seeing Ira Reiner very early on in Proposition 65 (the toxic substances initiative),” said Studio City resident Begley, an ardent environmentalist who pedaled his bicycle to the Burbank Holiday Inn news conference.

Reiner, who has received more than $1 million in campaign contributions thus far, is earning hefty support from the entertainment community. His Hollywood financial backers include MCA Chairman Lew Wasserman, producers Jerry Weintraub and Norman Lear, actor Kirk Douglas and rock singer Don Henley.

With his office’s frequent prosecutions of high-profile criminal cases, the deep-voiced, snowy-haired Reiner has himself attained nearly as high a public presence as some members of the Hollywood scene. That visibility helped make him the early front-runner against lesser-known San Francisco Dist. Atty. Arlo Smith, his opponent for the Democratic nomination.

In recent weeks, however, Reiner’s ratings declined under mixed reviews of his office’s performance in the nationally publicized McMartin Pre-School child molestation trial.

Reiner conceded Thursday that the recent acquittals of defendants Ray and Peggy McMartin Buckey have caused “a temporary slip” in the polls. But he added that he is already regaining momentum, citing a Times poll this week that had him leading Smith 18% to 12%.

With Ray Buckey facing retrial on eight counts, the case could continue to linger as an uncertain variable during the race. One thing that does seem clear, however, is that with three months to go, the nomination is still up for grabs. The Times poll, for example, showed 68% of voters saying they are undecided.

The winner of the Reiner-Smith primary will face uncontested Republican candidate Dan Lungren in the November election.

At his two news conferences Thursday, Reiner talked tough against perpetrators of violent, corporate and governmental crime.

Robert Alton Harris, due to soon be the first convict executed by the state of California in 23 years, “has forfeited his right to live,” declared Reiner, a one-time defense attorney.

If elected, Reiner added, he will create two new divisions in the attorney general’s office: environmental enforcement and public integrity, the latter to ferret out official corruption.

Reiner also pledged to serve as a strong advocate of abortion rights, regardless of any laws passed by the state Legislature. As attorney general, Reiner said, he would not defend laws that would restrict abortion rights.

“It is the attorney general’s responsibility,” said Reiner, “to protect this most personal of decisions that a woman has--the right to decide without outside interference by government or anyone else whether she is to bear a child.”

Smith also supports abortion rights and has won the endorsement of the political arm of the California National Organization for Women. Lungren, on the other hand, is staunchly opposed to abortions.

In his two appearances, Reiner took no direct shots at Smith, except to say that his San Francisco counterpart runs a more bureaucratic prosecutor’s office.

“I will work hard and I will not be afraid to try something new and, yes, step on a few toes if that’s what it takes,” Reiner said.

“And most important of all, my loyalty will be to the people of the state of California who elected me. Not to the government of California.”