That question is rhetorical: of course there are politically ambitious leading Democratic attorneys in Orange County. But that question gives rise to a second one: why aren’t any of them apparently thinking about running for the office of Orange County District Attorney?
Could a Donkey win the OC District Attorney’s races against Todd Spiter (at left) and Tony Rackauckas (at right)? Yes, it’s hard to assess their chances, but let’s not be stubborn! about it!
One argument may be that “they wouldn’t be able to win.” I beg to differ. The two leading Republican candidates — incumbent Tony Rackauckas and Supervisor Todd Spitzer — both have experience, prominence, and the prospect of substantial war chests. But, as I’ll note below, their flaws are as great as their strengths.
Vern recently gave a decent start to an accounting of the case against T-Rack in this comment:
He’s just wasted $4 million of OC taxpayers’ money, over 4 years, defending a blatantly unconstitutional gang injunction in the City of Orange, having just lost in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and is still considering taking it further … a case I hope to finish writing about today.
Also, from Voice of OC: “In September, Rackauckas asked a Superior Court judge to dismiss all charges against a Saudi Arabian princess living in Irvine who had been accused by his office of human trafficking. Rackauckas made the request after determining the “evidence cannot support” the allegations, according to a story in The Orange County Register.
Last fall, a panel of Orange County Superior Court judges ruled the county was illegally banning registered sex offenders from parks because it was preempting state law and creating a confusing patchwork of local restrictions.”
[Regarding the Dr. Esparza case], unless our DA has some amazing new evidence none of us have yet guessed at, this’ll just be one more T-Rack Faceplant. Which he won’t mind much, it’s OUR money, and as long as he’s making a show of being harsh on (generally) dark and powerless people, he’ll stay popular with his base.
And meanwhile he will NEVER go after a well-connected politician (with the sole exception of one who lures way too many female underlings into his office for way too many years and masturbates in front of them), OR brutal cops (with the sole exception of if six of you are caught on videotape beating a white, mentally ill, homeless man to death with taser blows to the face, and HIS dad’s a retired cop.)
Oooh, and there’s also this from 2010:
So much bullshit going on, and only a handful of us plucky bloggers paying any f-ng attention.
T-Rack’s whitewash investigation of the Fair Board’s miscreance was notable thus: His “investigators” spoke to everyone on the Board except for the one guy who strenuously disagreed with all their maneuvers to buy the Fair for themselves: Dave Padilla. They conveniently ignored the one guy who would have spilled everything.
Another thing you should have brought up yesterday, Todd Spitzer, in your list of T-Rack whitewashes and miscellaneous crimes – although it pales in comparison to the innocent folks he has kept in jail for years knowing they were innocent, just to avoid embarrassment.
I’ve tried to dub T-Rack – and I wish this were catchier – the “As-Good-As-No-DA DA.”
And those leave out any specific reference to the whole “investigating his close associate now-former Public Guardian John Williams” thing, about which Vern has also written a thing or two.
I seem to recall that Vern has also dragged Spitzer over the coals a time or two, but I can’t find them as easily. Certainly some of is has been over appearing everywhere to give press conferences whenever even conceivably possible; another recent complaint has been Spitzer’s weird and indefensible position on the 405 Toll Roads — combined with his appearing to appear simultaneously as both a particle and a wave on both sides of the issue.
Here — I’ll just reserve a place for Vern to add more Spitzer critiques if he wishes, in the interest of balance.
VERN’S TODD BOX.
Furthermore, the two Republican frontrunniers and their supporters truly seem to hate each other. To paraphrase: Spitzer’s supporters call Rackauckas a corrupt crony; Rackauckas’s supporters call Spitzer a liberal loose cannon. (And Spitzer does seem like a liberal. And then like a conservative. And then a moderate — then a libertarian — and then a conservative again. All within about thirty seconds.) Spitzer was once Rackauckas’s heir-apparent in the DA’s office; then he crossed his boss and got fired. If you really need more on this, grab your scuba gear and dive in here.
Meanwhile, Democrats have a solid bloc of support in OC — I think that most of us like the idea of having a DA who would actually treat significant Republican corruption as seriously as he does minor blemishes on Democrats — and independents may be swayed by a “good government, fairness to all” campaign. That makes a majority if it can be turned out — but there’s no reason to think that some Republicans wouldn’t join the bandwagon as well.
Here’s why. It’s not at all unlikely that if Rackauckas made it into a runoff (presuming no 50% majority in the primary, which would be a safe bet with three legitimate candidates) against a moderate to conservative Democrat, he’d have a hard time winning over Spitzer’s supporters. And if Spitzer successfully dislodged Rackauckas from such a runoff — well, I think that there would be a lot of T-Rack partisans who wouldn’t mind sitting out four years of a Democratic Administration rather than see Spitzer unleashing spitfires of holy hell as DA.
In other words, a prominent, non-ideological, well-heeled Democrat with decent grounding in criminal law could likely surpass the 33.33 needed to make a runoff. (I probably don’t even need to say this, but I am not there referring to myself. I’m more of a politico than a prosecutorio.) And if they could make a runoff, they could conceivably win.
I’ve presented this scenario to a few of my friends in Democratic circles. (And here, I’d like to instruct Paul Lucas to either stop reading this entirely or to grab a barf bucket. You know what’s coming here, Paul.) On hearing the inquiry, several people have immediately spit out the same name: termed-out State Senator Lou Correa. The thought fills me with some dismay — Correa’s at his conservative worst when it comes to criminal justice issues, where if he could he’d probably be happy to turn the entire Great Park into a maximum security prison — but that is only part of the story. Rackauckas is no better. As for Spitzer, no one has any idea what he might do as DA — other than to further his plans to ascend to yet higher office, and that’s not likely to mean throttling down marijuana busts and gang injunctions.
On the whole, Correa might satisfy the two main criteria that Democrats and No Party Preference voters would likely express. He’d have a big advantage over Rackauckas if he’d be willing to investigate corruption from all sides, rather than being an almost guaranteed “will not be interested” when the problem identified involves a conservative Republican. (If the DA would like examples, I suppose that I could assemble some — but he won’t like it.) And, unlike Spitzer, he wouldn’t be unpredictable, mercurial, and (to use a word that several people have said to me) even a little frightening in terms of what he might do in office to score points with the public.
You want honesty and stolidity in a District Attorney. I have my differences with Sen. Correa, but he seems to get decent marks in these areas. And that could be enough to get him elected.
Correa — who has been raising money for a 2018 Attorney General race (perhaps only because you have to put something on the form if you want people to raise funds) though — may have other plans for 2014. I hear all sorts of wild things — Board of Equalization, waiting to run for Supervisor if Janet Nguyen beats Jose Solorio, some others I won’t mention because I think that people may be pulling my leg. This leads me to believe that no one outside of his inner circle really knows his upcoming plans. If this was his chosen path, though, I don’t think another Democrat would get in the way.
Let’s presume, though, that Correa doesn’t run. Are their other Democrats — or even independents that Democrats could get behind as an alternative to the two announced candidates — who might consider the race? A brief review of some of the places where one might expect to find such candidates suggests so. Fundraising would probably not be an extreme problem; while Spitzer has been reaching out to Democrats — again, if he wants details made public, I suppose I can provide them — he’s not someone who’d clearly match the criteria I listed above.
I’m not going to mention any of the names that jumped out at me here because I don’t want to create problems for anyone. But I do want to open the conversation of whether there are non-ideological, honest, and stolid candidates out there who might make this a more interesting (and less dismal race.) I’m probably not the guy that they’d want to talk to — the DPOC’s Chair or Executive Director would be a better choice for most of them — but I’d certainly like to see other people’s thoughts. (Two of the people I’d most like to hear from are Scott Moxley and Matt Coker at the Weekly, but I’m not going to call them. Awkward, you know. You readers can let them know that I’m interested.)
While I think I know who’d get my vote if push came to shove in a two-person “Todd and Tony” race, right now the OC District Attorney race looks pretty dismal to me. In a county with the population of Iowa and the wealth of a small nation it seems unlikely to me that it has to be that way.
So let’s start that conversation, shall we? (Feel free to start it in your own private small groups; just let me know when you’re done!)
Spitzer against Rackauckas will freak out all the politico cowards: they will all double endorse. It would never in a million years occur to them to support neither.
Yeah good question. I only read the headline of this article b4 commenting. Id like ot know how Todd is going to be different from Track. I keep asking him and not getting any kind of answer. How is Todd going to stop our slide into a police state is what many people would like to know.
Shoulda read the rest, man.
Chale’ man. I only need to see the headline to get my two cents in. Anyway, Its a shame to see Todd Spitzer try to promote himself and raise his profile by being more of a grand inquisitor than T Rack. On top of that he is trying to gain the crown of grand revenue generator on top of that as well.
I just got to the part qwhere you say I should stop reading.
Damn you and and DAMN YOUR EYES!! No NO NO NO NO Not now not EVER will Lou Correa be Da of this County. I will drive a truck full of flaming chicken thighs on the Bar B Que into his head if he files for DA.
Well, finally! The silence was deafening!
Is he really worse that T-Rack, though? Are you prepared to compliment T-Rack as “better than Correa”?
With T Rack I know what can be expected. The Devil you now as the sating goes. He is a known quantity. Todd, is hitting the high notes of a Police Stater itching to get in there and go above and beyond the police state we have now. How else can he distinguish himself from T rack? Is he going to run on a campaign of turning the police state into a non police state? Hell that’s never going to happen. Todd was all out for getting some kids saddled with a 150 K debt for life for getting lost in the canyons to cover the costs of the OCFA, but crickets when one of his donors had the fire dept come out for a 3rd Time to extinguish a pile of mulch that caught fire. So again, how is odd going to be different than T Rack?
Ummm… has something changed? I’ve understood for a year or two now that T-Rack wants to pass the torch on to his snotty spokesperson S-Kang. Unless you’ve heard of some development I haven’t, it’ll be Susan vs Todd.
That would be a nice fight. I once heard her refer to Spitzer as a “trouser weasel.”
Yes, I’m informed that it looks like T-Rack is running for re-election. However, if it turns out that Spitzer doesn’t run for the position (as some speculate is possible), then I would think that T-Rack might hand over the reins to his deputy, especially if it looked like she might run unopposed. That last day of filing might be very interesting.
Oh, he doesn’t think the little lady can handle Todd, eh?
I would be guessing as to that….
Greg, if the incumbent doesn’t turn in papers the filing period is extended. so there would be more then enough Time for Spitzer to get a campaign together. I would not want to be standing in front of him if Rack decides not to run in 2014. Tread marks up the face. If he resigns mid term the Board of Sups get to appoint. Now won’t that be fun to watch!
Oh, that’s right. So, T-Rack runs. But if he resigns and the Supes appoint, they really all vote against their colleague?
I don’t recall the law on this, but is it no longer the case that the Governor appoints a replacement? (See, my memory of OC politics goes all the way back to Supervisor Edison Miller — and beyond!)
When a Sup left office it used to be that the Governor would appoint. Then OC turned itself into a Charter County and called for an election to fill a Sup seat. But for all the other elected Department Heads the Supervisors appoint. Remember filling the Sheriffs seats? And then the Clerk-Recorder and Auditor? Can you just imagine what filling the DA’s seat would look like.
I can not imagine SKS as a DA, but stranger things have happened. When Spitzer first ran for office he sat down with a group of us at Hankeys in Santa Ana for beers, BEFORE his fundraiser. He was intelligent, plain spoken, determined, young and well intentioned. In retrospect it seems like it was an act.
I expect him to pass on this and go bigger. Wasn’t there talk of one of the Fullerton Dog Ladies twin boys (I think the P. D.) aiming political signifigance?
But what do I know?
I believe you are referring to the offspring of Jan Flory. I think one is a PD (unelectable as a DA). The other works (worked?) for Rack as a deputy and had some professional ethics issues; he also ran for judge and bombed.
first, for reason both apparent and unknown, you must continue to bash john williams when the courts have, in all the matters that were of such concern to both spitzer and t-rack, exonerated him. leave the guy alone
what sort of a DA would Todd be, it would be something akin to the spanish inquisition with regard to all his political enemies, both democrat and republican. todd is a self absorbed political hack who’s lack of follow through is legendary. talk to the actual attorneys in the DA’s office, not the political appointees, and you will discover that as an attorney, todd was useless, which is the true reason he was bounced (that plus an amazing abuse of the power of his office and the subpoena that goes along with it)
t-rack, on the other hand,,,,,well you may not like what you get with tony but you do know what you are getting and there is something to be said for vanilla
my prediction, tony runs, todd sits it out, tony wins and hands it off to susan.
as to senator correa, a very interesting thought and, at some point, it just might be the right move, but if i were to bet, i would say lou waits for janet to beat solario (something sad and scary in and of itself) and then moves back to the fifth floor.
but the most frightening thing is the race, and ramifications, you are ignoring. mansoor pulls off the upset and gets the supervisor seat and moorlach runs for, and wins, the special election for the then vacant assembly seat. that truly is the worse case scenario
I know this is abosolute fantasy……….
But, would it not be great (and refreshing) if these same “political hacks” ran for office to represent the office. Not for personal gain. Solorio comes to mind, never met him, seems like a scumbag, Correa, have met him, interacted extensively with him and can say for certain: he is an asshole. Janet Ngyuen….REALLY again? As for Chicken Little, that guy is among the scariest politicians I have ever been around. The good news with John, is pretty soon Jesus Christ (and Rick Warren) are losing appeal in America. So look for him to be right on the cusp of “Jesus was a car thief” (Hezues is Mexican right???).
If greg could lobby for Tuesday night football, you’d be void of my bullshit. Until then….
That’s the worst-case scenario? Oh thou of pallid imagination.
Hey, i want the great park to be turned into a maximum security prison.
JOe Dunn would be good DA he is great attorney but his experience is more of the civil law area no criminal law in his background.
I would say Tom Umbergh would be a good challenger as well. But he would just be Lou Correa but thinner and lighter skin.
Mark Rosen is a good lawyer with some criminal law in his background. He is also a part time Judge, and a moderate Democrat. But his advocacy for the Vietnamese Parade group that banned LGBT participants would be a challenge to be forgiven for.
Many people were angry about that. But Mark is a Constitutional expert which is why he took on the case. Which would make him an excellent practicing DA.
Umberg ????
He has NO CREDIBILITY as far as I am concerned. If that’s what we are faced with, acquit Carlos Bustamante, re-register him as a Democrat and let him apply for Western States College of Law along with Benavides.
Rape cases will forever give way to political prosecutions.
Rosen, despite his inflammatory nature, might be interesting……….
I see more of the same.
Bring back Mike Capizzi.
Forgot about that ol’ boy. Watching the surf from the “Bathroom” suite?
Although that may all be done now.
ladies and gentlemen, i have seen the light, and it has been in front of all of us all this time…let me be the first to offer my support to the Greg Diamond for District Attorney campaign,,,,greg, where should i send the bag of money
I would support, if he would tighten up the views on sex crimes against children!
Hell, I might even get the Latin Playboys to play a set or two!
feel that? its a groundswell of support
You can send the bag of money to me, but I’m still not going to run for District Attorney. I’m not much one for prosecution.
but that begs the question, if i give you a bag of money, what’s in it for me
hmmm … autographed 8×10 glossy?
signed “with love from the boys and girls at occupy”?
That will cost you TWO bags of money. Standard banker’s size. No less than 75% full. Unadulterated. U.S. government denominations only. No coin. I’m onto your tricks, willie.
ok, but i had intended to give you a combination of kugerands and irvine dollars (redeemable at all great park locations)
Diamond for DA! What is with this prosecution presumption?
After you, Daniel!
Paul Lucas,
I agree that either Joe Dunn or Mark Rosen would be excellent candidates for OC District Attorney. Dunn as a former State Senator and his fight to bring Enron to justice are commendable qualities in a DA. Mark Rosen is an exceptional attorney. He served admirably as an effective and responsive City Council member for Garden Grove.