Schiff Is Not an Actor, but One Plays Him on TV

In all his days nailing spies and other crooks as a federal prosecutor, state Sen. Adam Schiff never once sniffed, “Take a plea.”

He never groused in a gravelly voice that a wily legal foe was “going to walk into that courtroom with a suitcase full of respect,” or that “he looks like Clarence Darrow; we look like the Spanish Inquisition.”

But to some of his constituents, Adam Schiff, Burbank politician, might as well be Adam Schiff, hard-boiled Hollywood prosecutor.

As Schiff surprisingly discovered a few years ago, he shares his name with one of television’s most colorful characters: New York Dist. Atty. Adam Schiff of the critically acclaimed NBC drama “Law & Order.”

How that happened is still a mystery, since television shows are usually very careful when choosing names for major characters. The real Schiff was never consulted--even though he was working as an assistant U.S. attorney at the time the show was launched nine years ago and interned in the very Manhattan office where the show is set.

“Law & Order” producer Dick Wolf said the name was chosen with New York history in mind.

“The D.A. in New York is Robert Morganthau, and he’s part of the Jewish aristocracy there,” Wolf said. “Schiff has the same resonance. We commend Sen. Schiff for having an eponymous name.”

Whatever the case, sharing the name with actor Steven Hill--who may have found his most memorable role as the politically paranoid prosecutor after a storied 50-year run on stage and screen--is apparently a good thing for a politician. A very good thing.

When Schiff was out knocking on doors before an election a few years ago, he was struck by how much voters knew--or thought they knew--about him and his legal career. No dummy, the Harvard Law School grad quickly figured out what was going on.

“When I told them I was a former prosecutor, they would light up and say, ‘Oh yes, I’m familiar with your work,’ ” Schiff said. “Of course, they had never heard of me. They were thinking of Adam Schiff from ‘Law & Order’.”

A lawyer friend who worked for a rival network once tried to talk Schiff into suing over the Adam Schiff character. But Schiff says he would never do that--think of the boost this must be providing to his name recognition.

“I started to watch to make sure he was a good character and not a ‘J.R.’ figure,” Schiff said, referring to the “Dallas” TV villain immortalized by Larry Hagman. “I was happy to see he is a pretty good guy.” The feeling is apparently mutual. Hill and Schiff have not met--yet--but they know about each other after some friends of the Democratic politician dropped by the New York set of “Law & Order” recently and handed Hill one of Schiff’s business cards.

Hill believes it is a funny coincidence, and joked that he may join Schiff on the campaign trail pretty soon, according to a spokeswoman for the show. The district attorney’s looming reelection campaign has been a running theme in the legal drama.

Schiff, meanwhile, fantasizes about teaming up with his fictional counterpart on a political advertisement inspired by Peter Bergman’s legendary cough syrup pitch.

“I thought of, ‘I’m not a doctor, I only play one on TV,’ and thought it would be funny to do a commercial: ‘I’m not a prosecutor, I only play one on TV. But state Sen. Adam Schiff was a real prosecutor, and you should support his reelection.”’

Only in Tinseltown.

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CHARTER HUMOR: In its bid to interest the public in the dry subject of government reform, Los Angeles’ elected Charter Reform Commission has often employed humor and gimmickry.

One memorable stunt had the normally distinguished members of the commission appearing at a news conference donning three-cornered “patriot” hats, right out of the prop department at a movie studio, to draw attention to the group’s Charter Convention.

Now, to publicize the release of its draft city charter next week, the panel has resorted to hijacking a Christmas carol--”The Twelve Days of Christmas” to be exact.

The panel’s news release is titled “The 7 Days of Christmas.”

The panel recommends that the bulletin be sung to the popular Christmas carol, but suggests the following substitution: “On the seventh day of charter reform, the elected commission gave to me . . . a stronger inspector general for the LAPD.”

Commission Chairman Erwin Chemerinsky denied any responsibility for the press release, saying it came from the commission’s staff. “It’s cute,” he offered.

So what’s next from the songwriters at the commission? How about “God Rest Ye Merry Bureaucrats?”

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GETTING IN SHAPE: Throngs of rumple-suited office workers milled about the lower levels of City Hall East on Tuesday, unable to get back to their cubicles because the building’s elevators were being tested.

And then came a moment of shining leadership from a man in the hapless crowd--Mayor Richard Riordan.

A handful of people followed his entourage around to a side door outside the building. The mayor politely stepped aside to let them enter the stairwell.

“I can’t even tell what floor I’m on,” one woman said as the group trooped upward.

“What floor are you looking for?” the mayor said helpfully, guiding her to her destination.

“Oh my God,” another woman panted as she drooped against a banister, somewhere around Floor 6.

There was no huffing and puffing from Riordan, however. An avid bike rider, the mayor did not even break a sweat as he marched steadily to Floor 8, quietly passing several others who had paused for breath.

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DEADLINE LOOMS: Rick Caruso, the Department of Water and Power Commission president, got a monthlong extension this week to come up with a plan for the much-disputed Chatsworth Reservoir.

In the interim, Caruso said, DWP plans to hire a consultant to suggest alternatives to preserving the dry reservoir as a nature reserve.

The controversy over the property, a 1,300-acre site owned by DWP, put a wrinkle in Caruso’s reappointment in September.

The council had previously directed DWP to lease the land to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, but Caruso resisted, saying he wanted to consider other uses for the land, including soccer fields. About 2,800 people signed a petition opposing his reappointment, which cleared the council on a 6-4 vote.

Prompted by Councilman Hal Bernson, who also opposed the reappointment, the council had asked Caruso to appear this week to report on proposed alternatives. But the DWP requested more time, Caruso said, in part so that Caruso could meet with the conservancy’s director at the reservoir.

“It seems a little bit premature to be transferring property to an organization, when the head of the organization has never even seen it,” Caruso said.

“At the end of the day, it’s not up to me,” he added. “The council has made this my issue. . . . My only point was to take more time to make a decision.”

Bernson agreed to wait until Jan. 13 for Caruso’s report. In the meantime, said Francine Oschin, Bernson’s assistant chief deputy, “We have no information from him. We’re all anxiously awaiting this report.”

Times correspondent Sue Fox contributed to this story.