Candidates lock horns in race for attorney general

Wednesday, October 21, 1998

Candidates lock horns in race for attorney general

ELECTION: Bill Lockyer, Dave Stirling attack each other as too
soft on crime

By Brian Fishman

Daily Bruin Contributor

The fight to be top cop in California is in full swing, and the
two major contenders aren’t pulling any punches.

Bill Lockyer, the Democratic senator pro tem, and Dave Stirling,
chief deputy attorney general to fellow Republican Dan Lungren, are
locked in a tight race to be the attorney general of
California.

Stirling, serving the last seven years under gubernatorial
candidate Lungren, takes a very stern stance on crime. A death
penalty supporter and co-author of the Three Strikes law, Stirling
portrays himself as a hard-nosed defender of citizen rights.

"Dave is the true law enforcement candidate in this race," said
Mike McCey, Stirling’s press officer, "He has worked in law
enforcement for years."

Moreover, McCey went on to criticize Lockyer’s stance on crime
in California.

"Lockyer is a born-again law enforcement supporter," McCey
claimed, explaining that only since the race for attorney general
was begun has Lockyer taken a firm stance on crime.

McCey also expressed worries that Lockyer has never been a
courtroom attorney.

"This is not an Å’on-the-job training’ type of office,"
McCey said.

Lockyer’s camp denies these allegations, saying that Lockyer’s
25 years as a legislator are plenty of experience and that he has
always been tough on crime.

Lockyer’s platform suggests this. Like Stirling, he is pro-death
penalty and takes credit for streamlining death penalty
appeals.

Also, Lockyer wrote a Three Strikes law several years before the
current Three Strikes law went into effect.

Hence, say supporters, Lockyer is not at all soft when it comes
to crime.

"Bill Lockyer believes prevention is wise. But, police, prisons
and prevention are all equally important, said Hilary McLean a
Lockyer spokeswoman.

In fact, claimed McLean, Stirling’s gun-control policies are too
lenient.

"He says he doesn’t believe in control. He wrote a brief that
would limit junk gun bans by cities," McLean said.

But, McCey denied that Stirling is soft on gun control. He said
that Stirling supports gun control for criminals but cited
statistics that 99.5 percent of guns are not used for criminal
activities.

"Those are political allegations. They don’t have any merit,"
McCey said about McLean’s assertions.

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