Second Prosecutor to Seek Luros Seat on Superior Court Bench

Monday, February 4, 20008

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Second Prosecutor to Seek Luros Seat on Superior Court Bench

By KENNETH OFGANG, Staff Writer

Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney Alan Nadir has become the second prosecutor running for the Los Angeles Superior Court seat now held by Judge Michael Luros.

Nadir, 60, filed his declaration of intent on Thursday. He told the MetNews Friday he was running because “I think I can make a difference” and because, after nearly 30 years in the City Attorney’s Office, most of it as a prosecutor, “the next step is to see that the public is saved” from the kinds of people he prosecutes.

Nadir does gang prosecutions, and recently obtained an injunction against a major South Los Angeles street gang, the Rolling 40s.

Deputy District Attorney B. Kathleen Blanchard recently filed for the seat. Luros, who has been in ill health in recent months, has not formally announced his plans, but he has not taken out paperwork to run for a new term and sources close to the judge say he does not plan to run.

This will be Nadir’s second candidacy for the court. He ran in 1988, losing by about 2-1 to Terry Smerling, then a Los Angeles Municipal Court judge. Nadir, who was rated “not qualified” by the County Bar on that occasion, attacked Smerling in that race by claiming he was a lenient sentencer and noting that he had worked for the ACLU before becoming a judge.

Nadir said Friday that he hopes to do better this time, saying he ran 20 years ago “at the last minute” because Smerling “was so far to the left.” He said he didn’t know how much money he would spend—Blanchard has promised a six-figure campaign if necessary—and said he doubted he would hire a consultant.

Nadir, a graduate of UCLA and the University of San Diego’s law school, where he was associate editor of the law review, joined the City Attorney’s Office in 1979 after having been a deputy district attorney and a deputy county counsel in Tulare County. He has been in the Criminal Division for most of his tenure, but spent a few years doing workers’ compensation cases.