When it comes to vicious politics, you...

When it comes to vicious politics, you don’t normally rank Rancho Palos Verdes along with Chicago and New York. But the lawmakers are getting nasty out there on the peninsula.

And all over a pair of blue jeans.

The squabble started when City Councilwoman Jacki Bacharach pointed out that City Clerk Jo Purcell had worn jeans to work in violation of the city’s dress code.

“What we want is a professional-looking staff,” Bacharach explained.

City Councilman Bob Ryan came to Purcell’s defense, responding: “Women have a hard enough time without other women (meaning Bacharach) beating up on them.”

Ryan, who calls Purcell “the best-dressed woman at City Hall,” was so upset that he put this bizarre message on his home answering machine:

“I’m not home right now--I’m out with Jacki Bacharach. She located some working women with blue jeans on and we’re going to beat them up.”

One other thing. Ryan is Purcell’s husband.

County Supervisor Mike Antonovich is also upset over some jeans--the ones advertised on the recent Grammys show on TV.

The ad featured actors portraying gang members who wear bandannas in the gang colors of blue and red and “speak Russian to promote a new line of denim jeans called Soviet.”

Antonovich, charging that the ad “glamorizes” gangs, introduced a motion calling on the board to ask that the ad campaign be dropped.

The motion, which will be voted on next week, surprised the ad agency, McCann-Erickson, of Seattle. Spokesman Erik Morris said the message of the ad was that “if the Soviets and Eastern Bloc countries can work out their differences, we can work out our differences at home.”

Just to show how times have changed, Antonovich, a conservative Republican, voiced no objection over the glamorization of the Soviet name.

Prospective actor Joe Brewster, ignored by the industry for years, suddenly is getting lots of requests for his resume.

The interest stems from his offer in a Times classified ad to trade his 160-acre spread in Casa Grande, Ariz., in exchange for a “good speaking role” in a movie.

Brewster, a 43-year-old engineer for a Tucson TV station, says the land is worth more than $200,000.

So far, he’s received phone calls from 30 Hollywood types, including “a guy who says he used to be pals with Howard Hughes,” “a gal called Sandra from some film company” whose phone turned out to be disconnected, and a guy who “supposedly has lunch with (movie mogul) Jon Peters from time to time.”

One caller sounded encouraging.

“A woman involved in a movie that’s going to star Ricky Schroeder talked to me about a part as a detective,” he said. “It’s a comedy.”

Brewster, whose acting experience is limited to a few local commercials, has put together a unique resume to impress producers.

“I’m sending my picture,” he said, “as well as a photo of the property tax statement.”