Tanenbaum Begins Effort to Unseat Reiner : Politics: The Beverly Hills councilman accuses the district attorney of using his office for personal political gain while serious crime is unpunished.

Beverly Hills Councilman Robert K. Tanenbaum launched his campaign for Los Angeles County district attorney this week in typical bare-knuckles style, accusing incumbent Ira Reiner of using the office for personal political gain while serious crimes go unpunished.

Tanenbaum, speaking Thursday to a group of about 150 invited to a breakfast at the Beverly Hills Hotel, said he would take a hard line against violent criminals and would work to repair a system of law enforcement that he characterized as “broken down.”

“Today’s barbarians freely practice their violence within our midst, in our neighborhoods, on our streets, even in our homes,” he said. “Unfortunately we have reached the point where we invite more crime by failing to control and punish it.

Tanenbaum, 48, a former Beverly Hills mayor, said: “We have to start looking murderers, robbers and rapists in the eyes and say loud enough for everyone to hear in court: You are going to pay for what you did. We cannot afford four more years of politics in the district attorney’s office. We can no longer support a politician who asks to be district attorney so that he can become attorney general.”

Tanenbaum hopes to drum up financial and political support early for the June, 1992, election. Although the race is nonpartisan, his audience featured several prominent Democratic and Republican attorneys, county judges and financial backers.

Although most political observers consider Tanenbaum a long shot to unseat an entrenched district attorney, they believe that Reiner is vulnerable because of controversy surrounding his office’s handling of such cases as the McMartin preschool molestation trial and his poor showing in the 1990 attorney general race.

Reiner lost the Democratic primary to little-known Arlo Smith, his counterpart in San Francisco, and gathered less than 60% of his party’s vote in Los Angeles County. Tanenbaum is also a Democrat.

Tanenbaum, likewise, does not have a high political profile beyond his Westside home base, but as the former chief of the Criminal Courts Bureau in New York County, he has high name recognition, stemming from his role as a best-selling author of several critically acclaimed books.

Tanenbaum wrote the recently released “Immoral Certainty” and “The Piano Teacher” and “Depraved Indifference” and is co-author of “Badge of the Assassin,” a nonfiction account of a manhunt for cop killers, based on a case he handled as an assistant district attorney in New York. He was deputy chief counsel of a 1977 congressional investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and was a consultant to the California attorney general in the Hillside Strangler case in 1981.

Political consultants believe that if Tanenbaum, now in his second term on the Beverly Hills City Council, can tap the abundant wealth available near his home base for the upcoming campaign and can conjure up enough bipartisan support, he could pose a threat to Reiner. In addition, they believe that Tanenbaum’s blunt, outspoken style could be an effective weapon against an opponent who has been vulnerable to widespread criticism. Still, most observers believe much will depend on who else enters the race.

A spokeswoman for Reiner said he will not respond to any campaign charges until the race is under way.

Tanenbuam has already put together much of his campaign team. He has hired political consultants Joseph Cerrell and Walter Karabian. John Costello, who served as campaign treasurer for Dan Lungren’s successful campaign for attorney general, will serve in the same capacity for the councilman.

In his address, Tanenbaum acknowledged his need to raise funds early, but said he has the desire and the confidence to take on Reiner in what could be a bruising campaign.

“In order for me to get the message out, I have to raise money,” he said. “And if I do it, I believe I can win. I recognize that there are those who say you can’t beat an incumbent, so why try? But no great victory emerges from a sure thing.”