Three major law enforcement organizations have opened their wallets to boost Republican Steve Cooley's campaign for attorney general.

The California Statewide Law Enforcement Assn. has dropped $460,000 into a committee to help Cooley with radio ads. The Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs Assn. is spending $288,000 on Cooley's behalf. An additional $212,000 is coming from the Los Angeles Police Protective League and the Peace Officers Research Assn. of California.

Democrat Kamala Harris has received $151,000 from powerpac.org, a San Francisco-based group that seeks "to champion democracy and social justice in states and communities across the country," according to its website.

"This just underscores the tremendous support Steve Cooley has from the law enforcement community to be California's top law enforcement officer," said Cooley spokesman Kevin Spillane.

Harris spokesman Brian Brokaw sees it differently. "Steve Cooley is sliding in the polls and is hunkered down in an office somewhere because every time he's out in public, he ends up with a bad episode of foot-in-mouth disease -- most recently his pledge to 'double dip' and take a $300,000 pension because of the 'incredibly low' $150,000 salary of the attorney general," Brokaw said. "It's no surprise that his backers are attempting to bail him out, but he's a fundamentally flawed candidate who is wrong on the issues Californians care most about."