CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / ATTORNEY GENERAL : Candidates Spar in Three-Sided Debate

In a rare three-sided debate that was more a preview of the fall general election than a prelude to next week’s Democratic primary, Democratic state attorney general candidates Ira Reiner and Arlo Smith sparred Tuesday with Republican Dan Lungren on the issues of abortion rights and environmental protection.

Allowed to address each other directly in a no-holds-barred format, Reiner sparked a lively exchange by questioning Lungren’s strong anti-abortion stance.

Replied Lungren, a former congressman: “No one has to try to smoke me out on this; I happened to be a pro-life legislator.”

“I believe very deeply in the right to life,” he added. “I believe if I were to ignore my conscience on that it would be like some of those in (Hitler’s) Germany (who), although knowing it was wrong, never spoke up. That doesn’t mean I condemn others. It means I bear the burden of persuasion, to attempt to persuade them to my side.”

Lungren countered by asking Reiner, Los Angeles’ district attorney, whether his abortion rights stand is so strong that he would declare unconstitutional a hypothetical state law to restrict abortions after 8 months and 25 days of a pregnancy.

“I’ll give you a direct answer, sir,” Reiner responded. “I would oppose any law that seeks to restrict a woman’s right to choose, for the very clear and obvious reason that the reason behind every such law is simply to make an inroad to lead in the direction of making abortion a crime.”

Smith, San Francisco’s district attorney, who is neck-and-neck with Reiner in the polls with a week to go until next Tuesday’s primary, also voiced strong support for abortion rights at the noontime forum at the Biltmore Hotel. The debate was attended by about 90 members of the Los Angeles County Bar Assn.

Unlike most campaign debates, which are little more than staged press conferences, Tuesday’s forum had an air of uncertainty because of its freewheeling format. After a round of opening speeches, the debate featured a 45-minute exchange in which the candidates asked each other questions--and had no restraints from interrupting during the answers.

The debate, billed as a Lincoln-Douglas style affair, initially seemed on the verge of turning into a three-ring circus, as Smith and Reiner quickly interrupted each other. But the candidates swiftly settled down and most of the subsequent exchanges proved civil, if at times rambling.

Besides abortion, the question of environmental enforcement produced the widest philosophical split between Lungren, who has no Republican primary opponents, and the two Democrats.

Said Reiner: “With all of the attention on crime and drugs that the attorney general must address, above all else I will aggressively enforce the environmental laws of California unlike they’ve ever been enforced before in this or any other state.”

Smith, like Reiner, vowed to oppose offshore oil drilling “whether it be off of L.A. County or San Francisco or Eureka or anyplace in this state.”

Lungren, a staunch conservative, reacted by calling his opponents “extremists” for opposing all oil drilling projects. He also indicated that the issue pales when compared to that of violent crime.

“I noticed neither one of you arrived here by skateboard or walking; the state of California has an insatiable appetite for petroleum products right now,” Lungren said. “. . .Yes, the environment is extremely important. . . . But I haven’t seen too many people mugged by an oil well recently. I’ve seen a lot of kids who don’t even have the right to go to school without being picked off, beaten, shot because of the color of the clothes they are wearing. . . . I think that’s where you have to concentrate.”

Before the debate turned into a Democrat-Republican bout, Smith aggressively sought to attack Reiner, charging that he has a disregard for the concerns of crime victims.

Reiner’s use of a tainted jailhouse informant in the McMartin Pre-School child molestation trial jeopardized the case and caused additional pain for the alleged victims, Smith asserted. “The chief law enforcement officer of this state must put the interest of the victims ahead of your own political agenda,” he added.

Reiner responded sarcastically, thanking Smith for his “restraint.” After all, Reiner said, “You did not say I killed Laura Palmer,” referring to the ongoing mystery on the “Twin Peaks” TV series.

Outside the forum, three parents of alleged McMartin Pre-School child molestation victims announced that they are seeking a State Bar investigation of Reiner for recently directing a district attorney’s investigator to contact the McMartin trial judge, who was out of town, by phone.

Reiner refused comment on the parents’ protest.

Tuesday’s debate was the last scheduled head-to-head encounter between Smith and Reiner before the primary. Smith and Lungren, who have already engaged in three free-flowing debates, are scheduled to meet again next Monday in San Diego.