Ad Makes Case for an Elected City Attorney, Seeks Candidates for Job : Ballot: Santa Monica voters haven’t decided yet on an initiative to make the office elective rather than appointive.

Santa Monica voters have not yet had the chance to decide whether they want to make the city attorney an elected position, but a residents group behind the ballot measure has begun advertising for candidates.

Santa Monicans for the Citizens Protection Act, the group that through an initiative drive placed the question of an elected city attorney on the Nov. 6 city ballot, ran a quarter-page ad last week in the Los Angeles Daily Journal, a legal newspaper.

In the corner of the ad, which cost the group $495, is a picture of the goddess of justice, with “City Attorney, City of Santa Monica” in bold letters.

The ad says candidates must be registered Santa Monica voters at the time of nomination, November, 1990, for an election in February, 1991.

In a box, the ad emphasizes that “the candidate should have a personal and professional commitment to upholding and obeying all laws of the land and must not have prior criminal record.”

The ad calls for candidates to send resumes and a photo to the campaign headquarters of Santa Monicans for the Citizens Protection Act.

Supporters of the measure, listed as Proposition Y on the ballot, are attempting to oust City Atty. Robert M. Myers because of his policy not to prosecute homeless people for such misdemeanors as sleeping in parks and public inebriation. They have also made an issue of the several times that Myers was arrested in connection with his participation in protests against nuclear testing.

They say Myers’ tolerant attitude toward the homeless is to blame for a growing homeless population in the city and aggressive panhandling and attacks by some transients.

Leslie Dutton, an organizing member of the group, was one of three people filing a complaint against Myers last week with the State Bar of California, the regulating agency for attorneys.

The complaint charges Myers with violating the State Bar’s Act and Rules of Professional Conduct for not prosecuting those certain misdemeanors and claims that his misdemeanor arrests for trespassing in protest of nuclear testing in Nevada constitute an act of moral turpitude.

Susan Scott, a State Bar spokeswoman, said state law prohibits comment or characterization of complaints filed against attorneys.

Myers said complaints have been filed against him in the past for his actions without any disciplinary action being taken. He said Dutton filed the complaint to get media attention.

“Leslie Dutton’s consistent tactic has been to file complaints even though she knows they go nowhere,” said Myers, who was appointed city attorney in 1981.

Myers said other complaints in connection with his arrests were filed against him in June, 1987, and a year ago. In both cases, he said, the State Bar determined that there was insufficient grounds for disciplinary action.

Myers also criticized the ad placed by Dutton’s group, saying it gave a false impression that the city is looking for a city attorney.

“It is an attempt to prescreen candidates for the office of city attorney,” he said. “She wants to pick people who share her right-wing philosophy if the measure passes.”

The homeless issue and the ballot measure to make the city attorney an elected office are expected to be key issues in the race for three seats on the City Council.

Incumbent Councilwoman Christine Reed has been a vocal opponent of Myers and has given her support to the ballot measure. Of the nine candidates for City Council, five oppose Proposition Y. In addition, Santa Monicans for Renters Rights, a powerful tenants group, opposes the measure.