CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS: THE AD CAMPAIGN

The race: Attorney general. Whose ad? Democratic candidate and current Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner.

Just 48 hours after launching his ad campaign for state attorney general with a positive TV spot, Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner on Wednesday switched to a second commercial in the Bay Area and San Diego that belittles the prosecution record of his Democratic primary foe, San Francisco Dist. Atty. Arlo Smith.

Reiner’s campaign chairman, William Wardlaw, denied that the negative spot represents a change in strategy for Reiner, whose campaign has been rocked this week by allegations concerning the Los Angeles prosecutor’s conduct in two high-profile Los Angeles criminal cases.

The new ad, Wardlaw said, is designed to “point out to the people who know (Smith) that his record when compared to Ira’s is not a very good one.”

Smith’s campaign, saying Reiner’s ad contains “distortions and untruths,” has sent a letter to TV stations demanding it be pulled.

Elements of the Reiner ad, with an analysis by Times staff writer Paul Feldman:

Ad: “The felony conviction rate in the Los Angeles district attorney’s office is the highest in history.”

Analysis: The statistic refers only to the history of the Los Angeles district attorney’s office, and only in the last 38 years. To back his claim, Reiner’s staff has released Los Angeles Superior Court statistics dating to 1952 that show the office’s felony conviction rate first exceeded 90% in 1985, the year Reiner took office.

Ad: “Arlo Smith’s office has the lowest conviction rate of the 10 major counties in California.”

Analysis: Because the line directly follows the one about Reiner’s felony conviction rate, a casual viewer might think the ad is comparing Smith’s felony conviction rate to Reiner’s. That is not the case. Indeed, Smith’s felony conviction rate in 1988 was actually better than Reiner’s--95.4% for Smith and 94.6% for Reiner, according to state Department of Justice statistics.

The Reiner campaign says it is actually discussing overall conviction rates--which include misdemeanor convictions. In that regard, Reiner’s rate in 1988 (last year’s statistics have not yet been published) was 84.3%, compared with Smith’s 72.1%. But despite the ad’s contention that Smith had the lowest statistics, his rate was higher than that in Alameda County, 68.6%.

Ad: “On environmental crime, Ira Reiner’s office has over 200 convictions, including jail sentences for polluters. Compare that to Smith’s record of two criminal cases.”

Analysis: Reiner has more than 200 convictions, with 22 defendants being sentenced to jail since his office began keeping statistics in January, 1987. Smith’s office says it has filed at least four criminal cases against toxic polluters.