Lungren Defends Call to Stop Ice-T Album Sales : Retailing: The attorney general asks record stores to pull ‘Cop Killer.’ His letter upsets the chains and civil libertarians.

California Atty. Gen. Daniel E. Lungren entered the public debate over rapper Ice-T’s controversial “Cop Killer” song Friday, defending a letter he sent last week to the chief executives of 18 record-store chains in the state urging them to stop selling the record.

Printed on government stationery and mailed June 23, the letter raised concerns in music industry circles and among First Amendment advocates, including the American Civil Liberties Union.

“I felt that as the state’s top cop, I had an obligation to let the record companies and distributors know how we, the men who are in this profession, feel about this record,” Lungren said Friday.

“My letter states right up front that there would be no legal requirement for retailers to comply with my request. But I do think that selling this record is irresponsible, and so I asked that in a spirit of good taste and good sense, that they might reconsider their position. How that can be misconstrued as censorship is beyond me.”

Lungren added his voice to a growing number of public figures who have criticized Time Warner’s affiliation with the Ice-T song, including President Bush, Vice President Dan Quayle, members of Congress and a host of city and state politicians and police groups across the country that have called for a boycott of the media giant.

The corporate offices of all the major retailers and record companies were closed Friday for the holiday, but industry sources said several label officials--including executives of Time Warner--had discussions about Lungren’s letter this week.

Danny Goldberg, senior vice president of Time Warner’s Atlantic Records unit and chairman of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, blasted the letter.

“It was clearly designed to intimidate,” Goldberg said. “The attorney general is in the position to ruin the lives of retailers, and they know it. I think it is very troubling when the chief law enforcement official of this state starts telling people how to conduct their business.”

More than 1,000 record outlets--including the 597-store Albany, N.Y.-based Trans World Music chain and the 145-store Dallas-based Sound Warehouse--have pulled “Body Count,” the Ice-T album that contains “Cop Killer,” from their shelves.

But Lungren’s letter seems to have done little to diminish the availability of Ice-T’s music in California. The album is available at Music Plus, Sam Goody, Wherehouse, Tower and Rhino Records.