OC Blog

Spitzer Gets KFI Talk Show

Word is that Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, no stranger to a microphone, is getting his own weekend talk show on KFI 640 AM.  He apparently starts this Saturday at 5pm.

Spitzer was formerly a call screener for KFI's morning drive time talker Bill Handel.  He's also had a 30 minute cable program called "Country Crossfire" that's run on, at least, Time Warner's system here in the OC, but since I've seen nothing but the same repeated show since Christmas, I'll presume he's no longer doing the program.

Spitzer for D.A.: A Strange Epilogue

I'd like to share this strange account of a strange encounter between TwistedBadge.com editor Mike Madigan and Todd Spitzer, which I received via Orange Net News:

LUNCH WITH SPITZER
Last month, I was invited to lunch by Assemblyman Todd Spitzer and I had high hopes that he'd confirm his long anticipated plans to run against OC DA Tony Rackauckas next year. We ordered sandwiches, but the main course was politics.

WIRED?
Todd Spitzer is a very likeable guy who started his career in 1990 as a badge carrying Orange County prosecutor as well as an LAPD reserve officer. In 1996 he was elected an Orange County Supervisor and quickly earned a reputation as a guy who gets things done. A graduate of UCLA and UC Hastings School of Law, he became a shining star. I hoped the reason for this lunch was to confirm that he would run for DA next year and restore the shine to that badge, but it didn't happen. I arrived at lunch wearing a short sleeved short and carrying nothing, but within the first five minutes of our conversation he asked me if I was wired. Why was this hard charging and outspoken critic of DA Tony Rackauckas worried about a wire? I wanted to share information with Todd Spitzer, the candidate, but he was so nervous, I switched to plan B and only mentioned the stuff I was pretty sure he already knew.

By the time lunch ended I was thinking someone might have convinced this popular lawyer who excelled at prosecuting criminals not to run. Did someone in the Republican Party convince Todd Spitzer that his future would be brighter if he didn't oppose Rackauckas? Is the Schroeder factor involved? I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

When Spitzer called to tell me he'd decided not to run, he said what Colin Powell said - he didn't want to put his family through a tough campaign. Of course, I told him that was a very good reason not to run. Then there was nothing left to say.

That's just weird -- and this is related by a guy, Mike Madigan, who despises Tony Rackauckas and would probably support Saddam Hussein for D.A. if it meant getting rid of Rackauckas.

Steve Greenhut on Spitzer's Exit from D.A. Race

Since the Orange Punch blog lacks PermaLinks to the individual posts, I hope the OCR doesn't mind if I re-publish Greenhut's entire post on Spitzer's exit from the D.A.'s race:

Spitzer vs. Rackauckas -- From an observer's point of view, I cannot help but be disappointed that Assemblyman Todd Spitzer withdrew from the DA's race against Tony Rackauckas. But the county might not be spared Spitzer, who might run in 2010. This would have been a knock-down, drag-out race, and there's no question the Republican establishment was fearful that Spitzer would win. Spitzer is quite aggressive -- he has been contacting the Register editorial page for months now building the case against Rackauckas. When I asked Rackauckas for an editorial meeting, he politely obliged, but he clearly wasn't pleased to be defending his position at such an early date. That spelled trouble, and the party knew it. No doubt, the rallying of the troops and the big Rackauckas fund-raiser scared Todd out of the race.    

I completely understand why few office-holders relished the idea of a Spitzer DA office. Todd has many good qualities, but he is a grand-stander. As one critic told me, he is great as long as he is one of several officials, such as on the Board of Supervisors or in the Assembly. But would you want someone of his temperament running a law enforcement office, or to have subpoena powers?

Even though I defended Rackauckas in his run against the Capizzi-redux of Wally Wade, I have been somewhat troubled by how he has run the office. The excuses about being politically tone deaf and about having the old Capizzi crowd still mad at him wear thin after a while. Todd would have been too hot, perhaps bringing back a slew of politically-generated, media-motivated prosecutions, but Rackauckas is too cold. He is sort of the anti-Capizzi, allowing corruption to continue because of his lack of aggressiveness. I still can't figure out why he didn't go after Michael Harris. Compare Rackauckas' attitude toward the church scandals, for instance, to Steve Cooley's in LA.    

Still, it's always better to have a lethargic DA than an overly aggressive one, given the daunting powers of that office. Maybe Republican leadership can start planning now for the right candidate in 2010.    

Posted by Steven Greenhut -- sgreenhut@ocregister.com at 12:48 PM (Feb. 24, 2005)

Looks Like Spitzer Is Out

The Blogpen's sources say Todd Spitzer is officially announcing today -- and may have already announced -- that he's ending his unofficial candidacy against District Attorney Tony Rackauckas. I haven't seen anything on the OCR, LAT or OC Weekly sites, yet.

We'll keep you posted.

Orange Net News Misses The Broadside of the Barn

I've relied on Orange Net News (ONN) for what I had considered good insight into what goes on behind the scenes at Orange Unified School District, but after their latest e-newsletter, I'll be digesting their digests with a boulder-sized grain of salt.

Last night, an ONN sent out this "news analysis" (emphases in the original):

TODD SPITZER vs. TONY RACKAUCKAS in DA Race?
In a February 18, 2005 Press Release, often embattled Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas announced he would seek a third term in June 2006.  City of Orange Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, while not officially declared, is expected to challenge Rackauckas for the office. Long time political watchers see a Spitzer vs. Rackauckas match as not only a battle of two long time political nemesis, but also a battle between the “two Republican parties” in Orange County; the Old Guard Conservative Establishment Wing vs. the Young Moderate New Majority Wing.

To run for DA, Spitzer will give up his 71st Assembly District Seat.  Candidates are already lining up, including ultra conservative Mark Bucher who has declared his candidacy for the seat. Currently the Treasurer for the Orange County Republican Party, Bucher is infamous in the Greater Orange Communities for being part of the legal team of the fringe Recalled OUSD School Board and founder of the Education Alliance that brought them to power. The Education Alliance ran stealth conservative candidates for school boards in an attempt to spread an anti-public school neo-fringe political agenda by controlling the elected positions of a school district. Orange Unified was the most successful target of the Education Alliance with five out of seven OUSD Trustees controlled by them until a voter recall and subsequent election ousted the Education Alliance trustees. Recently, Bucher was the attorney for the fringe Westminster School Board trustees who came perilously close to a state take over as they put personal religious beliefs ahead of state mandated non-discrimination language. Other names that have been circulated by political insiders interested in running for the 71st Assembly Seat are Mission Viejo Councilman John Paul Ledesma and Corona City Councilman Jeff Miller.

How does one start to critique a "news analysis" that crams so much bias and error into just two paragraphs?

Let's start with the headline, written as if the Rackauckas-Spitzer match up was news.

And just as the OC Weekly, Orange County Register and this humble blog are reporting on the likelihood of Spitzer withdrawing from the D.A. race, ONN reports that Spitzer "is expected to challenge Rackauckas." Just return from Mars, guys?

Then there is the silly declamation that a Rackauckas/Spitzer battle would be a proxy fight between the "Old Guard Conservative Establishment Wing vs. the Young Moderate New Majority Wing." To the Blogpen's knowledge, not a single New Majority member is backing Spitzer's bid. In fact, the New Majority leadership was in attendance at Rackauckas' Jan. 25 kick-off fundraiser.

Then we get to the meat of the matter, as ONN slips out its blackjack to take a few swipes at Mark Bucher, who has announced his candidacy for Spitzer's Assembly seat. Start with the "ultra conservative" label, meant to discredit Bucher to readers unfamiliar with him.

Then ONN lays into Bucher's role with the Education Alliance, claiming the group ran "stealth conservative candidates for school boards in an attempt to spread an anti-public school neo-fringe political agenda by controlling the elected positions of a school district." Well, for "stealth" candidates, they received more media coverage than any other school board candidates that Ii can recall.

As for "anti-public school neo-fringe political agenda" (did ONN writers graduate from the California Teachers Association School of Rhetoric?), that depends on your point of view. If support for charter schools, local control, parental choice, phonics and back-to-basics curriculum is an "anti-public school neo-fringe political agenda," then the Education Alliance candidates were guilty as charged. ONN's polemical language is code for Education Alliance and the candidates it supported opposed teacher union control of school boards and the see-no-evil attitude that was -- and still is -- destroying public education.

ONN then goes on to claim "Orange Unified was the most successful target of the Education Alliance." This statement ignores history. OUSD voters had begun electing conservative trustees before the Education Alliance was even formed in 1994 -- because the previous Board of Trustees was driving the district into bankruptcy with outrageously generous benefits for the district employees whose unions had elected the Board majority. The Education Alliance helped the conservative trustees repulse the repeated efforts of the teachers union to defeat them. Far from being controlled by the Education Alliance, the conservative OUSD trustees ignored advice from the group's principals. If they had actually paid attention to the Education Alliance's counsel, they would have defeated the union-led recall, instead of being narrowly defeated.

Clearly, ONN is using the Spitzer-Rackauckas story as a news peg initiating a pre-emptive attack on Bucher's candidacy. This is not surprising, since ONN got it's start as a communications tool in the union campaign to unseat the old conservative OUSD Board members -- hence the grudge against Bucher.

The Crystal Ball: Is Spitzer Going To Hit The Silk?

Last night, R. Scott Moxley posts an article saying Todd Spitzer will soon abandon his challenge to D.A. Tony Rackauckas. Frank Mickadeit writes this morning that suddenly, Spitzer is giving an awful lot of reasons why he shouldn't run. Both articles correspond with what the Blogpen's sources are telling us. What's more, Spitzer incredibly "declined to comment" for Moxley's story (which I think the Book of Revelation gives that as portent of the Apocalypse).

All of this leads me to believe Spitzer is indeed preparing to withdraw, especially when you consider Spitzer's remarks last week in reaction to Rackauckas' bombshell that this will be his last campaign. Candidates who are committed to running and winning don't talk that way.

Which is also not surprising. I've always believed that Spitzer's enormous ambition would ultimately give way to his even more enormous instinct for political self-preservation. I think Spitzer realized he had painted himself into a corner and Rackauckas' announcement offered him a face-saving way out of a race he had come to realize he would lose.

If Spitzer does drop out, he will be doing the right thing.

The Crystal Ball: More Rackauckas-Spitzer

The Orange County Register and Left Angeles Times report today on Rackauckas' official announcement of his intent to seek re-election to a third -- and final -- term.

In response to the "final" part, Spitzer began laying the ground-work for abandoning his challenge without looking like he's backing down in the face of overwhelming opposition from elected officials, the Republican Party, donors, activists and law enforcement. He told the LAT:

"My intent has never been to split the Republican Party, the law enforcement community or the general public over a race for district attorney," Spitzer said. "I'm still very motivated to run. But what I'm saying is, you can't ignore the fact that he's saying he's running for just one term…. Given the fact that he's made this announcement, it has to be analyzed," he said.

Translation: after a decent interval, I'll be a unifying hero and withdraw for the sake of party unity, after extracting commitments from movers-and-shakers to back me for D.A. in 2010.

Spitzer must realize he has boxed himself in and needs an honorable exit strategy. In addition to staring at the likelihood of entering political oblivion by losing to Rackauckas, Spitzer knows that an increasing number of candidates are circling his Assembly seat. If he waits too long to decide to run for re-election, some of those candidates might feel too committed to drop out in his favor. So instead of cruising to re-election to a final Assembly term, he'd have to burn a lot of campaign dollars staving off an unnecessary primary challenge -- dollars he could otherwise use to run for Dick Ackerman's Senate seat in 2008. 

Furthermore, if Spitzer persists in carrying on his D.A. campaign too long, he might so alienate Rackauckas supporters that they'd support a challenge to Spitzer in order to give him a taste of his own medicine -- or at least sit on their hands and not help him.

Rackauckas Formally Announces For Re-Election

Tony Rackauckas' re-election is savvy. How do I know that? Because they put us on the distribution list for their press release formally announcing his candidacy for re-election -- the first candidate to do so.

Just for that, we'll run the press release:

February 18, 2005                           
FOR IMMEDIATE RELASE

Contact:    Michael J. Schroeder, Campaign Chairman,
                Committee to Re-Elect District Attorney Tony Rackauckas                                           714-647-6488

ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY TONY RACKAUCKAS FORMALLY ANNOUNCES HIS RE-ELECTION FOR JUNE 2006

SANTA ANA Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas formally announced today his bid for re-election for June 2006.  

"Since I took office in 1999, I have seen the office reorganize priorities to coordinate law enforcement efforts dramatically reduce the number of street gangs and memberships, collect 60 percent more child support, protect Orange Countys drinking water by forcing major oil companies to clean up the ground water, and protect our children from violent sexual predators and pornographers," stated District Attorney Tony Rackauckas. 

"Now it is my intent to run for a third and final term, not just to continue the progress my office has made, but to open new battle fronts against crimes that affect each and every one of us and hurt our economy such as workers compensation insurance fraud, medical insurance fraud, and identity theft," stated Tony Rackauckas.  He added, "I look forward in the coming weeks to describing in detail my goals.  " 

"I am humbled by the bi-partisan support from prominent leaders in our community that I have received in my re-election efforts.  The credit goes directly to the 240 prosecutors 110 investigators and support staff persons in my office that work diligently every day to make Orange County a safer place to live," stated District Attorney Tony Rackauckas.

Former Mayor Collene (Thompson) Campbell, President of MOVE (Memory of Victims Everywhere), stated:  "I met Tony when our son was murdered in 1982 by an early released, violent felon.  As a broken hearted mother, I admired Tony for taking an unpaid leave as a prosecutor to recall then-Chief Justice Rose Bird, who was a disaster for public safety.  Tony co-authored Proposition115, the most sweeping justice reform in California history tha t protected and mandated victims rights and promoted speedy trials.  For 25 years, Tony has unwaveringly protected the law-abiding citizen."

District Attorney Tony Rackauckas is endorsed by: Congressman Chris Cox, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, Congressman Gary Miller, Congressman Darrell Issa, Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman, Senator Joe Dunn, Senator Bill Morrow, Former Senator Ross Johnson, Assemblyman Chuck Devore, Assemblyman Van Tran, Assemblywoman Mimi Walters, Former Assemblyman Ken Maddox, Supervisor Lou Correa, Supervisor Bill Campbell, Supervisor Jim Silva, Former Supervisor Chuck Smith, Former Supervisor Bill Steiner, Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona, Orange County Treasurer/Tax Collector John Moorloch, Chairman Emeritus of the Orange County Republican Party Tom Fuentes, Orange County Public Administrator John Williams, Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, Former Anaheim City Councilman Tom Tait, Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters, Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cool ey, Riverside District Attorney Grover Trask, San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, Former California Republican Party Chairmen John McGraw, Shawn Steel, Michael Schroeder, and many other elected officials and community leaders.   

District Attorney Tony Rackauckas won in 1998 and 2002 by over 22 points over his opponent in each race and will be 68 years old in 2010 at the end of his third term.  The campaign website is www.ocdistrictattorney.com.

This should prove a donnybrook to remember.

What Happened To Todd Spitzer's Million Dollars?

I've been meaning to post on this subject since last week, and it keeps slipping my mind. For months, Todd Spitzer has been button-holing every elected official in sight, attempting to win their endorsement with the inspiring pitch, "I have a million dollars and I'm going to win by 20 points."

I don't believe the latter claim, but the former has become gospel in OC political circles and conversations revolve around how much Rackauckas needs to raise to neutralize that warchest.

Well, apparently not as much as everyone thought. As the Orange County Register reported on Feb. 6, Spitzer's fabled million dollar warchest is down to $436,244. You can see for yourself on the Secretary of State website.  During 2005, Spitzer raised $521,672.02 and spent $349,424.60, including $38,608.45 in payments to public affairs consultants Waters & Faubel (long-time Spitzer associates who also worked for Wally Wade's D.A. campaign in 2002).

Spitzer also paid $21,000 to Sergio Prince during a two-month period from late September to late November of 2005. Prince is a veteran of the anti-El Toro airport wars, and was the on-site campaign manager for Bill Campbell's supervisorial race. The report doesn't specify Prince's role other than listing him as a "campaign consultant," but my guess is Prince will be the on-site for Spitzer's D.A. campaign, and Todd is using his state campaign account to tide Sergio Prince over until he sets up a county campaign account.

If any one has any additional information, I'd love to hear it.

UPDATE (2-19-05): Alert commenter CD points out that Spitzer has $515,176.96 in a second committee, Friends of Todd Spitzer (the money must be left over from the previous cycle, because the committee didn't recieve a dime in contributions throughout all of 2004). Thanks for pointing out the error of omission.  Now we can go back to conversations about how Rackauckas will neutralize Spitzer's million dollars.

The Crystal Ball: The D.A. Race/71st Assembly District Nexus

Some interesting political dynamics are emerging in the backwash of Todd Spitzer's reckless decision to challenge District Attorney Tony Rackauckas in 2006. Since Spitzer's D.A. campaign opens up his Assembly seat, candidates are cropping up as Spitzer's commitment to running against Rackauckas seems to harden.

Last Friday, GOP activist Mark Bucher of Tustin declared his intention of running for the 71st A.D. Two-term Mission Viejo City Councilman John Paul Ledesma is also telling people he is going to run, and Corona Councilman Jeff Miller is also expected to throw his hat into the ring.

And that is just for starters.

There are a million scenarios you could play out about who is the putative front-runner. Since the 71st AD is a mainly Orange County district, that would tend to favor a OC-based candidates. On the other hand, if there are several OC-based candidates, they could dilute the Orange County vote and allow Miller to run up the middle as Corona's favorite son.

Ledesma is a nice guy with name ID in Mission Viejo (and who knows, he might benefit from voter confusion with OUSD Trustee Rick Ledesma), but in person he just doesn't leave much of an impression. But  being a city councilman  in a divided city like Mission Viejo also hurts, since there are plenty of M.V. residents who don't care for him. Ledesma has also endorsed Spitzer's D.A. candidacy, which will complicate his efforts to attract support from the vast majority of elected officials, donors and activists who are backing Rackauckas.

Bucher will be a formidable candidate. While he's never held elective office, he has accumulated years of campaign experience helping school board candidates win election in the teeth of teachers union oppposition. He's Treasurer of the Republican Party of Orange County and oversaw their precinct organization in last years general election -- bothg of which will come in handy. He was also a co-author of paycheck protection initiative in 1998.  While that ultimately went down onbder an avalanche of negative union ads, it is one of those tempering-in-the-fire experiences that better prepares a person for campaigns down the road.

Bucher is very energetic, organized and has the ability to put significant financial resources into his own campaign.  The latter will come in handy during the next twelve months before filing closes, since raising money to run in the 71st AD will be problematic -- because Spitzer has 12 months to change his mind and run for re-election to the Assembly. That will cause a lot of potential donors to want to hold off endorsing or donating until closer to the filing deadline.