CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS: ATTORNEY GENERAL : Smith and Reiner Trade Charges on Oil Firm Ties

State attorney general hopeful Arlo Smith on Wednesday blasted his Democratic primary opponent, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, for accepting campaign contributions from major oil companies.

The Reiner camp returned fire, scoring San Francisco Dist. Atty. Smith for his personal investments in common stock of leading petroleum firms.

The verbal volleys were but the latest in a campaign increasingly marked by personal attacks rather than policy differences.

On questions of the environment, as with most major policy issues, it would take a high-powered microscope to define the differences between Reiner and Smith. Both emphasize that they would take a firm pro-environment stance, including filing criminal lawsuits against polluters and fighting offshore oil drilling efforts.

At a San Francisco press conference called by Smith to spotlight his own environmental platform, Smith criticized Reiner’s acceptance of about $25,000 in contributions from oil companies since 1984. In the race for attorney general, Reiner has received $5,200 in contributions from firms including Atlantic Richfield and Occidental Petroleum Corp., which lost a 1988 referendum for oil drilling in Pacific Palisades.

“While the voters were refusing Occidental’s attempts to destroy their shoreline,” Smith said, “Ira Reiner was fueling his campaign (for district attorney) with Occidental dollars. I have pledged that my campaign will accept no contributions from any oil company. I urge--no, I demand--that Ira Reiner take that pledge too.”

Reiner’s campaign manager, Sam Singer, responded that Reiner received oil company contributions because of “longtime personal relationships” with executives of firms “who know Ira opposes offshore oil drilling . . . (but) who believe in Ira’s stand on crime.” Singer called Smith “a hypocrite,” noting that financial disclosure statements indicate the three-term San Francisco prosecutor has holdings in Amerada Hess, Ranger Oil, Mesa and Arco. Singer added that Smith’s latest campaign contribution statement lists a $100 donation from a Santa Monica attorney described as an attorney for Occidental.

In a subsequent phone interview with The Times, Smith said he didn’t personally know the donor, R. Bradley Wilson, or realize that he worked for Occidental. “That’s not exactly a large contribution, but we’ll return it anyway,” Smith said.

Wilson was out of town and unavailable for comment.

Smith described his personal oil stock holdings, which amount to about $20,000, as “small.” He added that they would not affect his judgment on environmental issues because “the point is, I would vote my proxies against management that would engage in any improper illegal activities.”

Both Smith’s and Reiner’s offices have attorneys assigned exclusively to environmental cases. Reiner’s environmental unit, according to office officials, has filed several criminal cases against oil firms, including two against Arco.