CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / U.S. SENATE : Davis Unveils TV Ads Using Scenes of Denny Beating

Becoming the second candidate to seek advantage from the Los Angeles riots in his U.S. Senate campaign, state Controller Gray Davis unveiled new television ads Wednesday containing dramatic footage of the rioting and a replay of the beating of truck driver Reginald O. Denny.

The Davis ads were produced by BAD Campaigns, the same political firm that produced the other riot-inspired ads for Rep. Mel Levine, and the two ads use strikingly similar language.

Unlike the Levine ad, however, Davis’s commercial uses news footage of Denny’s beating and the scene of a young man standing triumphantly over the battered truck driver. The same footage was contained in an ad produced by opponents of Los Angeles City Charter Amendment F, the police reform measure, that two stations, Channel 2 (KCBS) and Channel 7 (KABC) considered too “inflammatory” for them to broadcast. A third station, Channel 5 (KTLA), suspended the ad, and the news crew that shot the footage has challenged the right of the sponsors of the anti-Amendment F ad, the Police Protective League, to use the copyrighted material.

But Scott Shafer, a spokesman for Davis, said the controller plans to go ahead and run his ads. Shafer said Davis is using the Denny footage because “it’s the most dramatic footage (of the riots). It reminds people of what the city went through. It symbolizes the riots.”

Shafer said Davis campaign officials were looking into legal questions raised about ownership of the tape depicting the beating.

As for the similarities to the Levine ads, Davis, whose two 30-second ads are expected to begin appearing today, is heard on the air saying that the riots developed because “political leadership has failed--liberal and conservative.” A Levine ad already being aired says, “It’s a failure of political leadership.”

Davis also uses the line that “A democracy cannot tolerate mob violence--black or white,” which is almost identical to this line in a Levine ad: “A Democratic society can’t tolerate mob rule.”

The controller’s ads go a step further than Levine’s in that his line about failed political leadership is spoken while the ad flashes a still photo of Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and Gov. Pete Wilson. The implication clearly is that Davis is pointing the finger of blame at those three.

When questioned, Shafer said: “The intent of the ad is not to indict any individual, but clearly, if you look at the events of the last three weeks, it would be hard not to lay some of the blame at the feet of those individuals.”

Upset at seeing the mayor thrust into the Senate race, Bradley spokesman Bill Chandler said: “Gray Davis is an also-ran and his desperate campaign will try anything to get attention. It’s truly a sad reflection on the current political climate that any candidates would make such a blatant attempt to exploit a riot. Rather than pointing the finger at everyone else, it’s time for all leaders to work together.”

In Sacramento, Dan Schnur, director of communications for Wilson, said the ad had little to do with the job of U.S. senator. “What I’d like to know from Gray Davis is whether he is running for mayor or governor or police chief,” he said.

Davis is trying to overcome a huge lead held in public opinion polls by opponent Dianne Feinstein in the Democratic primary for the seat now held by Republican Sen. John Seymour. Levine is locked in a tight race against Rep. Barbara Boxer and Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy in the Democratic primary for the second U.S. Senate seat up for grabs this year, the one held by retiring Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston.

Both the Davis and Levine campaigns are being managed by the partnership of Michael Berman and Carl D’Agostino, who run BAD Campaigns.

Critics of the Davis ad were quick to charge that Berman wrote the script for both candidates. Berman and D’Agostino did not return telephone calls.

Hope Warshaw, the spokeswoman for Levine, first referred a caller to BAD Campaigns, and then said Davis was following Levine’s lead. “Mel Levine is happy that Gray Davis is embracing his view on what is wrong with politics in general and what happened in the riots,” she said.

Shafer, after being read the similar parts of the Levine and Davis ads, at first attempted to refer inquiries to BAD. When pressed, he said: “The ads reflect Gray’s point of view. He even helped rewrite both of them. Obviously BAD Campaigns is one of the consulting firms we hired, but ultimately the substantive portions of the ads were Gray’s.”

In both ads, Davis broadcasts photos of Martin Luther King Jr. and President John F. Kennedy and talks about “what I learned” from the prominent political leaders. Shafer said Davis had not met either man. “Gray did not personally know King or Kennedy. But, like a lot of people in his generation, he was influenced by their philosophy and their call to public service,” Shafer said.

Critics of Davis’ ad complained that the controller was out of line in attacking “political leadership” since Davis worked for Bradley in 1973, spent seven years as chief of staff to ex-Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr., served two terms in the state Assembly and now is in his second term as state controller.

Asked about the definition of “political leadership,” Shafer conceded that Davis bore part of the responsibility. “No one is blameless,” he said.

Kam Kuwata, a spokesman for Feinstein, said Davis’ ads “are a bad imitation of the same ads that are being pulled in the Amendment F campaign. It’s odd that on the same day that ad is being pulled, Gray comes out with this ad.”

Sound-Alike Campaign Ads

Here are quotes take from campaign ads by two Democratic candidates, Rep. Mel Levine and state Controller Gray Davis, running for separate U.S. Senate seats under the same campaign management, BAD Campaigns:

“It’s a failure of political leadership. A democratic society can’t tolerate mob rule.”

--Levine

“The truth is that leadership has failed--liberal and conservative. A democracy cannot tolerate mob violence--black or white.”

--Davis