Candidate Sees No Need for Special State Prosecutor

SACRAMENTO — San Francisco Dist. Atty. Arlo Smith, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for attorney general, said Monday that he does not view the Legislature as corrupt and sees no need to create a state special prosecutor to uncover political crimes in the Capitol.

Instead, Smith said, the state should increase its financial support for the Sacramento County district attorney’s office and lend its expertise to help local authorities prosecute legislative wrongdoing.

Smith’s opinion that political corruption is essentially a matter for local law enforcement agencies separates him from two other candidates for statewide office--former Rep. Daniel E. Lungren and former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein--who last week made the corruption issue a central theme of their campaigns.

Lungren, who is seeking the Republican nomination for attorney general, pledged to make political corruption cases a top priority.

Lungren and Feinstein were reacting to a three-year federal investigation of the Legislature.

“I don’t believe the Legislature is corrupt,” said Smith, who will face Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner in the Democratic primary.

“There appears to be some problems with some individuals.”