CAMPAIGNS RATTLE SABERS OVER ELECTION MAILER QUOTE.

Byline: - Beth Barrett

The 40th Assembly District Democratic primary turned nasty Wednesday when Lloyd Levine threatened legal action over a campaign mailer ``hit piece,'' and his opponent, Andrei Cherny, vowed to go to the police.

Levine, his father - political consultant Larry Levine - and his lawyer threatened suit as soon as today over a mailer accusing the candidate of being soft on crime.

Cherny and his consultant, Rick Taylor, accused the Levine campaign of stealing a copy of the mailer before it was sent out.

``The (mailer) statement on its face is so malicious and so harmful to a person's reputation that it should not be permitted without substantiation that it's wholly true,'' Larry Levine said.

Taylor, like Larry Levine a veteran of dozens of campaign battles, responded that the Cherny campaign is ready to accuse Levine's campaign with theft in obtaining a copy of the mailer, ostensibly from the mail house the campaigns share.

``They stole a (mailer),'' Taylor said.

Taylor dismissed the threat of a lawsuit saying political consultants like he and Larry Levine are threatened with suits all the time in campaigns.

At issue is a statement in the mailer by Granada Hills community activist Kim Thompson.

Thompson said she was standing by the quote, despite Larry Levine calling her at home with a warning the statement was libelous and a demand for a retraction.

The Thompson quote in the mailer says: ``Lloyd Levine says we should go easier on sentencing murderers, rapists, child molesters and gangbangers. We can't trust him to protect our streets or our families.''

Thompson said the quote reflected closely enough her opinion of what Levine had said during a recent debate about the ```three strikes, you're out'' law for repeat violent offenders. Thompson added she was speaking for herself, not as executive vice president of the North Valley Coalition as the mailer states.

``These statements are 100 percent false,'' Lloyd Levine said following a news conference during which local abortion rights groups denounced an earlier Cherny mailer that portrayed Levine as anti-choice.

The rookie candidates - Levine is 32, while Cherny is 26 - seemed a bit bewildered by the last-minute electioneering.

Lloyd Levine said Wednesday he didn't know his father had called Thompson, though he said he did authorize his attorney Ricardo A. Torres II to investigate legal remedies.

Cherny, a former speech writer for Vice President Al Gore who has authored an idealistic book about new ways to approach public service, said he felt ``proud'' of the mailing. He said it is ``common practice'' to draft quotes for people, like Thompson, and that the quote was accurate in so far as it reflects what would happen if Levine's policies are adopted - a charge Levine disputes.

``I didn't strong arm anyone into doing anything,'' Cherny said.

As for filing the police report, Cherny says it is an attempt to hold Levine accountable.

San Fernando Valley voters, Cherny said, should ``look up to with pride'' the people they elect.