ELECTIONS : Candidates Test Platforms on Law and Order : Politics: Some have already begun to address social ills and the urban riots. Others fear it will be perceived as exploiting the issue.

In the aftermath of the rioting, looting and burning that rocked Los Angeles, candidates in contested Westside elections know they have to respond to the upheaval but are unsure exactly what to say to voters.

With the June 2 election little more than three weeks away, a number of approaches are being tested, from pleas for unity and rebuilding to a renewed emphasis on law and order.

Campaign consultants say the nation’s worst urban riot of the century has altered the local political landscape dramatically.

Although they acknowledge that the riot cannot be ignored, they worry about the risks of addressing volatile issues of race, crime and social unrest, fearing it could backfire if voters view candidates as exploiting the tragedy for political gain. Carefully crafted campaign strategies may no longer be relevant, leaving candidates to navigate in turbulent, uncharted waters.

Despite the uncertainty, Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) this weekend is taking a chance, sending a mass mailing to Democratic voters that deals directly with the riot. Amid pictures of the fire-ravaged ruins of stores and cleanup efforts, Hayden presents his thoughts on “rebuilding our future,” helping riot victims, and ways to respond to the deep social problems that exploded in the streets.

The districtwide mailing is Hayden’s first to more than 107,000 Democratic households in the new 23rd Senate District that extends across the Westside from the Mid-Wilshire area to suburban subdivisions in the San Fernando Valley that border Ventura County.

His opponents in the hotly contested Democratic primary race, veteran Sen. Herschel Rosenthal (D-Los Angeles) and Pacific Palisades businesswoman Catherine O’Neill, had no immediate plans to respond to the riot in campaign mailers.

Rosenthal and O’Neill said they will continue to talk about jobs, housing, education, and fighting drug and gang problems. O’Neill also plans to continue to speak out on children and families, welfare reform and tougher laws to seize the weapons of heavily armed gang members.

In the 41st Assembly District, which comprises the western half of the senate district, the issue of crime has a new prominence, particularly in the crowded Republican primary race.

Already under attack from her more conservative opponents as being suspiciously moderate for a Republican, former Santa Monica Councilwoman Christine Reed fired back Thursday with a press release highlighting her endorsement by state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Santa Clarita), a former Los Angeles police chief with impeccable law-and-order credentials.

While not mentioning the riots, the statement portrays Reed as a “crime fighter” with a “get tough on criminals attitude.”

Reed said the Davis endorsement was prepared before the unrest and represented her views before the riot. “I feel more strongly now,” she said. But she is wary of trying to make political hay out of a disaster and is not planning a major overhaul of her campaign.

She is being opposed in the Republican primary by retired engineer Fred Beteta, attorney Scott Meehan, accounting professor Paul Foote and USC student-businessman Stu Stitch.

Reed’s opponents generally don’t think the riots will have a major impact on their race in a competitive new district that runs from Santa Monica over the mountains to the Ventura County line.

Foote said he has a different view of the riots than he has been hearing from Democrats. “We look at the other side of it,” Foote said. “We talk about victims, the number of people injured. We say the word murder. I’m not looking to rationalize the behavior of thugs.”

The riots may heighten voter interest in Measure F, the police reform measure on the Los Angeles city ballot. The city charter amendment is an outgrowth of the Christopher Commission’s recommendations on reforms of the Los Angeles Police Department in the wake of the police beating of black motorist Rodney G. King.

The ballot measure would expand the powers of the mayor and police commission over the LAPD. It is opposed by the union that represents police officers, and candidates in both the Senate and Assembly races are sharply divided by the issue.

In his mailer, Hayden urges a yes vote on F. “We need the security of community-based policing to replace a system that has lost all credibility,” he said.

O’Neill said in an interview that the passage of the police reforms is essential. “We must never again put ourselves in a situation where it is unclear who can tell the police chief what to do,” she said.

But Rosenthal said in an interview last week that he did not yet have a position on Measure F. “I’m still rethinking it,” he said. “I think that under normal circumstances I might have been opposed. But I think the events that have taken place have caused me to rethink it.”

The issue also has divided Republicans in the Assembly race. Since the riots, Reed has moved from neutral to support for the reforms. “As I watched the unrest unfold and read newspaper coverage of the aftermath, I really think the measure should be approved,” she said.

Meehan, Beteta and Foote said they had not considered or studied Measure F. “I haven’t heard of a single Republican who is for it,” Foote said.

The same issues of crime and law and order are likely to emerge as dominant themes in two other hotly contested Republican primary races that include parts of the Westside.

“Obviously this puts the whole issue of law and order back on the front burner,” said Republican political consultant Allan Hoffenblum. “Candidates will have to prove they are tough on crime.’

Hoffenblum is advising Los Angeles Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores in a crowded Republican primary race in the new 36th Congressional District, which stretches from Westchester to the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Hoffenblum said voters are suffering from “shock and bewilderment at the worst urban riot in U.S. history.” Republican campaign adviser Dennis Revell, who is married to GOP congressional candidate Maureen Reagan, said there is no doubt that the rioting has affected political campaigns. It sent voters the message that “the system isn’t working.”

Candidates must offer voters solutions beyond simply law and order, Revell said. Voters want to know, “How can we fix it.”

That sentiment is shared by Parke Skeleton, a Hayden adviser. “People are looking for someone with real proposals for dealing with (the riots) from a law-and-order perspective as well as an underlying cause perspective,” he said.

Rosenthal campaign manager Lynette Stevens agreed the voters will be demanding answers. “What are you going to do to fix it?” is what voters want to know, she said. “What are you going to do to make our streets safer?”

Republican campaign consultant Doug Yoakam, who is advising Reed, is taking a cautious approach because of concern that the campaign could be perceived as exploiting the riots for political gain. “It will seem political and crass,” he said. “More practically, you don’t know how it will play. I think opinion on this is volatile.”

Democratic consultant Sid Galanty agreed there are potential pitfalls. “I don’t think anyone wins on the issue of, ‘I support tough legislation against lawbreakers.’ The government has shown it cannot even respond to this stuff. I would recommend tying that issue into the larger issue of gridlock in the political system.”

That is precisely what Hayden is attempting to do.

“After the blind rage of the last week, I felt one thing more than ever, the world of government is out of touch,” he said in the mailer.

“We don’t need finger pointing here,” Hayden said in an interview. “We’ve got to rebuild now.”