San Francisco's Feinstein gets support from gays

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But a string of civic crises most notably the night of rioting which followed the verdict in the trial of confessed assassin Dan White, last May 21 tarnished Mrs. Feinstein's image.

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Kopp attacked the mayor for failure to Control the rioting and being a weak leader.

White, 34, the former policeman and city supervisor, admitted murdering Mayor Moscone in his office on Nov. 27 of last year, after the mayor had refused to reinstate him as a supervisor. White shot Moscone four times at point-blank range, re-loaded his revolver and ran down the marble corridors of City Hall to the supervisors' chambers where he gunned down Milk.

The city's leading gay activist, Milk had quarreled with the conservative White over issues involying homosexual rights. Milk had advised Moscone not to reappoint White as supervisor.

When a jury rejected first-degree murder verdicts for White, and found him guilty instead of the lesser charge of manslaughter which required him to serve less than eight years in prison, San Franciscans were outraged.

Led by thousands of residents from the city's gay Castro Street area, a protest march following the verdict turned to violence. Windows at City Hall were smashed and a dozen police cars burned.

The mayor was widely accused of failing to order adequate police

response to the crisis. She lost some support from moderate and conservative voters as a result.

Mrs. Feinstein condemned the violence of the "White Night Riot," but she also voiced understanding "at the frustration of all the people of San Francisco" over "this unjust verdict."

Scott noted her "sympathetic” remarks months later in endorsing her election.

Dist. Atty. Joseph Freitas won no such support from the gay community. The man charged with prosecuting Dan White saw his once-bright political career de stroyed as a result of the trial.

Freitas was widely blamed for presenting an inadequate case against White which resulted in the lenient verdict:

While White's attorney presented a series of psychiatrists and psy chologists to testify that White must have possessed a diminished mental capacity for understanding his acts at the time of the murders, the prosecution countered with only one psychiatrist.

Some politicians and at least one local newspaper went so far as to question whether Freitas' office, under pressure from the police department, had thrown the case against the former cop.

Freitas, a liberal, was also

hounded by his association with San Francisco's other major tragedy of 1978 the mass suicides of the Peoples Temple. Freitas had assigned Tim Stoen, a top assistant, to investigate voter fraud chargesTM against the San Francisco-based temple at a time when Stoen himself was a high-ranking temple member.

In his race for re-election last month, Freitas ran a distant second to a virtual unknown, Assistant State Atty. Gen. Arlo Smith. In Tuesday's run-off, he lost to Smith. by a three-to-one margin.

The assassinations and riots also. played a significant role in the election of Supervisor Harry Britt. On the night of the White verdict, Britt lead the marchers to City Hall before the violence began. Later, he publicly criticized police for "harassment" of gays during the evening.

His actions drew blasts of protest from other city officials, but appeared to win him increased political support in his own predominantly gay supervisorial district. In his campaign, Britt stressed "the right" of gays to permanent representation on the Board of Supervisors. He proposed making the position both he and Milk have held a "permanent gay seat" on the board.

A grand jury report on the riots, released four days before the elections, singled out Britt for con-

demnation. But he won despite the official criticism. California news bureau