D.A. Reiner Might Have Lost More Than a Case : Politics: The acquittal could be a major blow to his candidacy for state attorney general. Some say he can’t win the big one.

The acquittal of the McMartin defendants Thursday raised all sorts of questions among legal experts, educators and parents, but in state politics there was only one:

“How damaging do you think this is to Ira?”

That was the way Republican consultant Eric Rose put it, echoing some around the state who view Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner as a man mostly interested in his political prospects.

“Let’s face it,” charged Rose, “in high-profile cases, Ira doesn’t have the Midas touch, he’s got the kiss of death.”

Rose was referring to McMartin and the Twilight Zone case, in which those charged in the deaths of actor Vic Morrow and two children on a movie set were acquitted in May, 1987.

Reiner, who was elected district attorney in 1984, is now running for attorney general. Arlo Smith, his opponent in the Democratic primary, was on the attack--or rather, his advisers were--as soon as the McMartin verdict came in.

“The question is not whether this hurts Mr. Reiner’s campaign for attorney general, it’s whether he should resign immediately as district attorney of Los Angeles County,” said Marc Dann, campaign manager for Smith, who is the district attorney of San Francisco County.

Smith’s political advisers believe the McMartin outcome could be the break they’ve been been hankering for as they try to overcome Reiner’s huge advantage in name recognition in Southern California.

If nothing else, the development probably will mean that Reiner will have to abandon his strategy of ignoring Smith.

That strategy was tried by another Smith opponent 11 years ago, then-San Francisco Dist. Atty. Joseph Freitas. But Freitas infuriated gays when his prosecution of Dan White led to a manslaughter conviction rather than first-degree murder. White, who later committed suicide when he got out of prison, had killed San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and gay Supervisor Harvey Milk.

Smith, who started out in the 1979 race at below 10% in the polls, kept pounding away at Freitas and won the race.

Smith manager Dann, talking so fast his words slammed into each other coming out of the phone, said Thursday, “Reiner’s flops go back years. When he was city attorney for Los Angeles, the LAPD’s special unit said we’ve got a problem (with spying on citizens) and you have to defend us and Reiner instead grandstands at a press conference and reveals confidential information, causing the city to have to hire independent counsel at a cost of $2 million to the taxpayers. The Bar censured him for it. It goes on and on. He used jailhouse informants . . . to help the prosecutors and one of them was even used in the McMartin case. I mean, it goes on and on.”

Told of the charges from the Smith camp, Reiner took a deep breath over the phone Thursday and said in gravelly, measured tones, “Arlo is being very unprofessional in all of this. As a prosecutor he should know better.”

Reiner added, “I was very disappointed (by the acquittal) but the jury has spoken.”

Reiner’s predecessor as district attorney, Republican Robert H. Philibosian, has been blamed by some for starting the McMartin prosecution in 1983 without carefully checking out the charges. After he took office, Reiner decided to prosecute only two of the seven original defendants, Peggy McMartin and Ray Buckey.

Whoever wins the Democratic primary for attorney general, Reiner or Smith, will have to face Republican lawyer and former Rep. Dan Lungren, who has previously criticized Reiner for “grandstanding” in high-profile cases, among other things.

But Lungren was circumspect Thursday, perhaps sensing that it was not the best time to talk politics. In a statement issued by his campaign office, he said: “This is not a time for political judgments and statements. I’m more concerned about the children and their families.”