CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS: THE AD CAMPAIGN

The race: Lieutenant governor. Whose ad: Leo T. McCarthy, the Democratic incumbent. Cost: $150,000 for the first week in Los Angeles. Producer: Ken Swope & Associates.

In McCarthy’s first ad in his race against state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), he portrays himself as tough on crime. This appears to be an attempt to blunt Bergeson’s frequent reminder that McCarthy was Assembly Speaker when the Criminal Justice Committee came to be known as a “graveyard” for anti-crime legislation. The ad delivers its message as footage is shown of a heavy-breathing prowler creeping around the perimeter of a house at night. The ad will air in Los Angeles beginning today and in Sacramento starting Monday.

Elements of the ad, with analysis by Times staff writer Daniel M. Weintraub:

Ad: “Every major police group in the state has endorsed Leo McCarthy.”

Analysis: McCarthy is backed by 10 law enforcement groups, including the California Highway Patrol officers, the prison guards and several organizations representing local police management and rank-and-file officers. Bergeson has been endorsed by the Women Prosecutors of California and some individual law enforcement officials, including Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates.

Ad: “He’s for the death penalty.”

Analysis: McCarthy opposed the death penalty while in the Assembly and while serving as Assembly Speaker, and twice co-authored bills to repeal capital punishment. He changed his position in 1985.

Ad: “McCarthy voted 35 times to increase jail time for rape.”

Analysis: This claim responds to Bergeson’s charge that McCarthy once voted to reduce sentences for first-time rapists and that the Criminal Justice Committee while McCarthy was Speaker blocked an attempt to require life in prison for habitual sex offenders. McCarthy’s campaign provided synopses of 38 “anti-crime” bills for which he voted between 1969 and 1982. Most of them involved increasing sentences for rape or all felonies and broadening the definition of rape and sexual assault.

Ad: “McCarthy wrote and passed the law that jails criminals for sexual battery.”

Analysis: McCarthy authored legislation in 1982 that established the crime of sexual battery to cover assaults that did not meet the definition of rape. The new crime was defined as “the touching of an intimate part of another person while that person is unlawfully restrained . . . if the touching is against the will of the person touched and is for the purpose of sexual arousal, gratification or abuse.”

Ad: “McCarthy wrote Prop. 133, which will stop parole boards from letting violent criminals out early. So when they get 20 (years), they’ll do 20.”

Analysis: Actually, only those criminals convicted a second time of committing murder, rape or other violent offenses would serve their full sentences. Even under McCarthy’s initiative, those convicted for the first time would still be eligible for early release. The initiative also would raise the sales tax a half-cent on the dollar for four years to fight drug abuse.