Stein, Hahn Salvos

As the race for Los Angeles city attorney entered its final week, both candidates significantly upped their negativity antes in commercials that began airing Wednesday.

* THE AD: Challenger Ted Stein’s commercial accuses three-term incumbent James K. Hahn of deceiving voters by charging that he is tough on criminals who abuse women and children. “The facts say something else,” the Stein ad says. It cites two murders that followed plea bargains by Hahn’s office in domestic violence cases. “Fact: Douglas Kelly beats his girlfriend. Hahn plea bargains the case. Kelly’s released and kills a teenage girl. Fact: Luis Pantoja threatens a child with a deadly weapon. Another Hahn plea bargain. Pantoja goes free, murders his own son.” The ad closes by noting that popular Mayor Richard Riordan and “the L.A. police” endorse Stein, a San Fernando Valley lawyer and real estate developer, and declares that voters have a choice of supporting Riordan and Stein or Riordan’s opponent, state Sen. Tom Hayden and Hahn.

Hahn’s commercial asks why Stein is “lying about Jim Hahn.” Alluding to Stein’s charge in an earlier ad that he has never lost a jury trial, Hahn said Stein has not prosecuted a case in 20 years. The Hahn ad notes that Stein, while president of the Airport Commission, offered a no-bid contract to Whitewater figure Webster Hubbell and charges that Stein “owes us thousands in back taxes. But he wants to be city attorney. Ted Stein’s not qualified and not independent. So he’s lying about Jim Hahn, who’s prosecuted a million cases with a 94% conviction rate.” The commercial closes by saying Hahn is endorsed by the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs and is “tough, qualified and independent.”

* THE ANALYSIS: Stein, far behind in the polls, is trying to go for the gut in his ad by accusing Hahn of actions that led to the deaths of innocents. News accounts show that both of the men who eventually became killers were released after having served only two days in jail. Both had been charged with misdemeanor domestic violence offenses that had been the subject of plea bargains at their initial court appearances. One of the men was a first offender. The other had thrown off a police computer by providing a phony date of birth and was wrongly believed to have been a first offender. He was actually a serial rapist wanted in Florida. Both men became killers soon after they were freed. Stein has been endorsed by two police unions--the Los Angeles Police Protective League and the Command Officers Assn.--not by “the L.A. police.” Hayden and Hahn are not running as a ticket, as Stein’s ad implies.

Hahn’s ad suggests that Stein is trying to hide his own failings by falsely attacking Hahn. Stein’s jury trial record in criminal cases does indeed date from the early 1970s, when he served as a deputy district attorney. The ad suggests that Stein used poor judgment in offering Hubbell a no-bid contract. But the contract was lawful and Stein says the idea to hire Hubbell to lobby the Clinton administration on the city’s behalf came from a Democratic Party loyalist in Hahn’s camp. Stein elected, lawfully, to pay property taxes on two struggling apartment buildings he co-owns on the installment plan. He says he paid his share in full after Hahn made an issue out of it. Hahn’s claimed 94% conviction rate is composed almost exclusively of plea bargains--including cases such as those that resulted in the deaths Stein cites. The 1 million cases evidently includes all misdemeanors--even traffic violations--over Hahn’s 12 years as city attorney.