Acquittals May Prove Decisive Blow to Reiner : Politics: Analysts say the district attorney, already considered vulnerable in bid for a third term, is certain to be hurt by the King verdict.

For Ira Reiner--the tough-talking district attorney who was once the bright young star of Los Angeles politics--the stunning series of acquittals in the Rodney G. King beating trial meant much more than another lost prosecution.

It represented a punch in the gut that some say could knock him out of the political arena.

Reiner has suffered a string of setbacks in high-profile trials in recent years, including the loss of the McMartin Preschool molestation case, which supporters blamed for his surprising defeat in the 1990 Democratic primary race for attorney general.

Now, at a time when he was already considered vulnerable, political analysts say the King verdict is certain to hurt the eight-year incumbent’s bid in the June 2 primary for a third term as district attorney.

Sam Singer, the San Francisco political consultant who managed Reiner’s 1990 campaign and witnessed firsthand the effects of the McMartin case, flatly predicted there is no way for Reiner to recover.

“If you win a case, you’re a hero,” Singer said. “If you lose, you’re a goat. He’s toast. It goes beyond goat.”

Added Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political analyst at the Claremont Graduate School’s Center for Politics and Policy: “The odds have gone down dramatically for Ira Reiner. Where he was vulnerable before, he is much more than vulnerable now.”

As outrage over the King verdicts swept the city in the form of riots, looting and fires, Jeffe said Reiner--as the county’s chief law enforcement officer--runs the risk of becoming a symbol of a criminal justice system that many believe no longer works.

Moreover, Reiner may have been hurt by taking personal credit for the trial strategy, including a key maneuver that has come under increasing scrutiny: the decision not to put King on the witness stand. Although many legal experts have praised the move as a wise one, others are now having a field day over it.

“It was just an incredibly stupid decision,” said one veteran Los Angeles County prosecutor, who requested anonymity. “If (prosecutors) had put on every ounce of evidence (they) had and still lost the case, (Reiner) would have been able to stand up straight to the American public and say, ‘You saw it all. We did everything we could. I’m sorry.’ But now, forever, people will say, ‘Did you do the right thing?’ ”

Reiner declined comment Thursday, saying a story about his political future would be in “the height of bad taste” while the city is facing such pressing problems.

But his election opponents wasted no time in seeking to make a campaign issue out of the decision not to call King. Within minutes of Wednesday’s verdict, Deputy Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti and Beverly Hills Councilman Robert Tanenbaum both issued press statements denouncing the decision. Garcetti lambasted Reiner for “a fundamental failure” in judgment. Tanenbaum declared that Reiner’s “gross incompetence has never been more evident.”

Reiner faces four opponents in the nonpartisan June 2 primary. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two vote-getters will face off in November’s general election. Although most analysts have predicted that Reiner will make it into a runoff, Jeffe said Thursday that she is no longer sure.

“Nothing is impossible at this point,” she said. “Nothing.”

According to pollster Richard Maullin, who conducted opinion surveys for the Garcetti camp, the King verdicts have come at a time when Reiner can little afford another political problem. Maullin polled 400 voters in February and found that, when asked if they believed that Reiner should be reelected, only 21% said yes.

Still, when the poll asked voters to choose among Reiner, Garcetti, Tanenbaum and candidate Sterling Norris, Reiner led the pack with 33%.

One factor in the election will likely be the vote of ethnic minorities. Some analysts believe Reiner built up goodwill among blacks with his harsh criticism of Superior Court Judge Joyce A. Karlin, who earlier this year sentenced a Korean-born grocer to probation in the killing of a black girl. But with the King verdicts, Jeffe said, that support could evaporate.

“Over the years, there has been a suspicion built up towards law enforcement, towards the district attorney, and it may not have been on the surface,” Jeffe said. “This has erased any gains he might have gotten out of his positioning on Judge Karlin.”

That view is not unanimous. Johnnie Cochran, a prominent black attorney, said that although the King verdicts may be a political setback for Reiner, black citizens will not hold him at fault. Cochran said Reiner “gets points” for filing charges against the officers, even if he did not get guilty verdicts.

After the verdicts, a long-planned Reiner fund-raiser went ahead as planned at his home in the Hollywood Hills. His campaign manager, Bob Ellis, said Reiner did not attend.

Instead, Reiner did what many believe he always has done best since he first made a splash as a hard-charging city controller in that late 1970s: He went on television. In live interviews with several local stations, he talked a tough line about the rioters being thugs and complained that police were not doing enough to quell the violence.

Although he did not address his reelection chances, in an interview prior to the verdicts he acknowledged that the trial’s outcome would undoubtedly affect his career.

“Of course, it has implications,” he said. “One of the most frustrating things in public life (is that) when you are the mayor, if there is an earthquake you get blamed. I have 1,000 lawyers in this office. A guy screws up in Pomona on a Tuesday, you get blamed.

“What is fair is to judge us on the quality of the work,” he said. “I made the major decisions. It’s fair to hold me accountable if it’s done well or not well.”