CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / ATTORNEY GENERAL : Lungren Targets Minorities With New TV Ad

Saying he will not concede the minority vote, Dan Lungren, Republican candidate for state attorney general, Monday began targeting black and Latino voters with a message that he intends to deliver in an unusual way: via cable and Spanish-language television stations.

Lungren, surrounded by 25 Asian, Eastern European, Latino and black Californians who have created ethnic coalitions to support his candidacy, unveiled an anti-crime ad at a Los Angeles press conference.

“If you’re black or Hispanic you’re a lot more likely to be the victim of a violent crime than the rest of the population--and the odds aren’t so great for them either,” the narrator of the 30-second spot states. “Dan Lungren has done something about the problems of drugs and crime, that’s why he’s running for attorney general.”

By using less expensive cable broadcasts and Latino stations rather than major commercial television outlets, Lungren not only saves money in his financially strapped campaign but can more specifically target voters by directing the message to selective communities.

Saying he did not want to divulge his strategy, Lungren refused to disclose where and when the ads would air, or the cost of the effort. Lungren’s most recent financial disclosure indicated that his campaign had $217,000, but he has since spent nearly that much buying television time for an earlier ad.

With its message of concern for minority groups, the commercial may counter ethnic opposition that first surfaced two years ago when Gov. George Deukmejian sought unsuccessfully to appoint Lungren as state treasurer.

At hearings that preceded the state Senate’s vote to reject Lungren, a coalition of ethnic, environmental and women’s groups testified against the former five-term congressman, citing his staunchly conservative political philosophy. The coalition, whose members spoke out on issues such as Lungren’s opposition to reparations for Japanese-Americans interned during World War II, was re-formed last week to fight Lungren’s candidacy.

Lungren said Monday that his ad demonstrates that he will not concede the minority vote, which traditionally favors Democrats. “Kids can’t go in safety from their homes to high school . . . or grade school without fear of being killed,” said Lungren, who helped win passage of several tough anti-crime bills while in Congress. “I want to make a difference on crimes and drugs and gangs.”

Meanwhile, Lungren’s Democratic rival, 10-year San Francisco Dist. Atty. Arlo Smith, flanked by several deputy attorneys general, sought to draw attention Monday to Lungren’s lack of prosecutorial experience. Meeting with reporters at the offices of a legal placement firm, Smith, who has served 26 years as a deputy attorney general, asserted that Lungren, a practicing civil attorney, would “barely qualify for an entry level job” in the attorney general’s office.

Lungren has countered that his experience on the House Judiciary Committee gave him significant insight into the problems of the criminal justice system. Moreover, he cited Robert F. Kennedy and Deukmejian as two non-prosecutors who provided exemplary service as U.S. attorney general and state attorney general, respectively.

Jan Chatten-Brown, head of the Los Angeles County district attorney’s environmental crimes unit, who joined Smith, said that Lungren’s congressional record shows that he would be “destructive to the environment.”

Smith, who has yet to air a television ad, concluded his “Dan Lungren Career Seminar” by hoisting a large red stamp bearing the word “rejected” toward a pair of resumes of Lungren and himself. He appeared ready to stamp his own, until campaign advisers yelled out frantically to warn him of his impending mistake.