EDITORIAL; FIGHTING TO FINISH.

THE stunning repudiation of District Attorney Gil Garcetti's performance in office by 63 percent of Los Angeles County's voters in Tuesday's primary ought to be a wake-up call to every leader in this community.

Because of term limits and growing public discontent with the quality of leadership at the county and city level, re-election of incumbents can no longer be taken for granted.

Far too many of our local officials operate by outdated men's club rules written long ago when power in Los Angeles was held by a small clique that did as it pleased.

The days of palsy-walsy politicians, insider games and back-room deals are coming to an end.

The residents of Greater Los Angeles have a right to government institutions that solve problems and meet the needs of the community.

Angelenos are beginning to demand that the word public be put back into the idea of public service. That's why more than half the people have petitioned to secede from the city of Los Angeles and why a third of the Los Angeles Unified School District is pushing to break away and take control of its neighborhood schools.

It's also why Garcetti ran second behind veteran prosecutor Steve Cooley in the primary and faces an uphill fight to win re-election in November.

In the face of the scandals over the nation's costliest high school in the Belmont Learning Center and the worst police scandal in the city's history, the public wants strong leadership and aggressive law enforcement from the district attorney - not double talk and political gamesmanship.

As the returns came in Tuesday night, Garcetti, who had refused to campaign or publicly debate his challengers, declared that if forced into a runoff, ``I'm going to come out fighting. No one has seen me fight yet.''

That is indeed what the public wants to see: a fighting district attorney. Not fighting for re-election for himself. But fighting for justice for the people of this community.