Okay, long story short. It turns out that a year ago, longtime Todd Spitzer communications director (and former DUI convict) Matt Morrison was driving around Santa Ana extremely drunk at 3:30 in the afternoon, and stopped to pee at a Rite-Aid. Then, whether in drunken confusion or impatience over the head not being free, he pissed all over some boxes in a back storeroom instead. And then, interrupted by a store manager, he rushed out leaving behind his county ID, and presumably drunk-drove away without it.
Ten months later – that’s two months ago – the SAPD and (Spitzer rival) DA Tony Rackauckas FINALLY filed charges on this incident that Matt claims to not remember, and never told Todd about. The PUBLIC found out last week – just as votes in the DA race between Todd and Tony are being cast. Spitzer has of course let Matt go, but Tony due to obvious conflict passed the case onto the AG, who in turn declined to press charges on a year-old box-pissing charge.
Oh, you think I’m making it up, do you?
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2018/05/11/caught-on-video-former-top-aide-to-oc-supervisor-urinates-on-boxes-inside-rite-aid/
Why do the Orange Juice editors always assign these type of stories to me, Fingal O’Flahertie? Does something about me scream out “Will Editorialize On Drunken Political Public Urination Scandals?”
Well fine, I have three main thoughts. First, it’s pretty fishy that Spitzer’s rival the incumbent DA held off on this case, indeed kept it secret, until just before voters are due to cast their ballots in the DA race, an “October Surprise” in early May so that the pee scent would be fresh in voters’ minds through the June 5 election.
Yeah, the SAPD spokesman (that is, the spokesman for the totally-in-the-bag-for-T-Rack SAPD) tells us that this was a “low-priority case,” but I guarantee you that if this happened last week, or this afternoon, we’d be hearing about it NOW. In short, knowing Tony’s record and style, I don’t put ANY sort of political dirty tricks past the Nixon-resembling “law-and-order” politician smirking to the right.
How much of a risk was it to the public, for Tony to let this repeat drunk driver go on his merry way, then and now? If, as Mr. Morrison claims, he really doesn’t remember the incident (and he didn’t just make a deal to “not tell Todd and stay free”), then he was at a blackout blood alcohol level of .20 or higher that afternoon, and we can only pray that it was a very rare day for Matt. Either that or getting caught peeing on boxes and losing your ID was such a common everyday occurrence that it just didn’t stand out in his memory.
Second – how about this as an instance of white privilege, particularly upper-class white privilege that is. I must warn you, the O’Flahertie clan is a long lineage of Irish poets, and when I think of the existence of a special class of people that can piss on anything without consequence, and the poor unfortunate soul who has to clean it up be damned, I find it hard not to break out into verse … but I shall restrain myself till the end of this screed.
What if it were some borracho Mexican who stumbled into the store, whipped out his chorizo, and sprayed half the store’s stock of Tylenol? What if it was some homeless lady who crouched down to relieve herself, ironically if you like, onto a huge box of adult diapers? What if it was some black guy visiting from Lakewood who hauled out his member and drenched a crate of breakfast cereal? Would THEY be running around free an hour later, and to this very day? I suggest not.
Seriously, here are the penalties if you or I (assuming YOU are not of the privileged class) pulled what Matt did that day. Leave aside a (second) DUI that you or I would have been nailed with. If we were caught urinating in public, prosecutors including Rackauckas could and often would charge us with the crime of indecent exposure or public lewdness. Then if we had the bad luck to be convicted, we would face the onerous and humiliating duty of registering as sex offenders, a sentence that would follow us for the rest of our lives. [SEX OFFENDERS, TODD!]
But Mr. Morrison had “personal demons,” we are told – by Todd, by County Counsel Leon Page, by the newscaster. Of course. Personal demons. That phenomenon possessed solely by white rock stars, artists, and privileged folks of the ruling class. But when some brown or black or poor youth gets caught on drugs, thrown in jail, beat up or killed by the police, I don’t remember anyone ever saying that the guy had personal demons. With personal demons, you get all KINDS of second chances!
Between you and me, I heard SPITZER was PISSED!
Finally, Todd Spitzer. I have to say that, as far as this “happened” to Spitzer at all, it couldn’t-a happened to a more deserving Supervisor-slash-DA candidate.
After all his demonizing of our homeless population as dangerous off-the-radar “sex offenders,” it’s only by sheer luck that one of his longtime top aides has escaped that humiliating category.
Cherishing a reputation of zero-tolerance to drunk driving, he obviously knew of his communications director’s previous DUI, and HAD to have turned a blind eye to signs of his recidivism.
How many public comments, at how many Supervisor meetings, did Todd sit through rolling his eyes and consulting his devices, as advocates for the homeless complained of their having nowhere to relieve themselves? Perhaps the lesser should learn from the greater, and take to micturating in storerooms, on boxes? Of course not. That isn’t fair to the Rite-Aids of the world and the folks who have to work there. What we need instead is for the speaker’s podium at the next supervisor’s meeting to be used the way the brave patriot at the right did.
I – I – I can’t hold it in any more! No, not the pee. The song, and the dance, my lads!
Ode to My Willy
Forsooth, a dull bathroom I need it no more
For I can go tinkle all over the store
While customers walk, and the manager gawks,
I can whip out my willy and pee on this box!
In this day and age modern bathrooms abound
But I am a white man and thus I have found
The world is my toilet when I’m full of booze.
With friends in high places right HERE’s where I choose!
A clerk just passed by and she’s lucky I missed her.
Stand back from the spray cuz I work for Todd Spitzer!
Well Mr O’flahertie, Thank you for sobering up long enough to write this fine article.
The Choice between T-rack and Spitzer is a tough one. First you have T-rack, a lying corrupt low life who protects murdering Cops.
Then you have Spitzer a lying corrupt low life press whore who changes his story every 5 minutes. He is a bigot who has painted the entire County of Orange with his fear and hate.
So I think I will vote for your fellow Irishman Brett Murdock.
It’ll be a tough choice if (as is probable) those two make it thru June 5.
Then I’m going for T-Rack cuz he’ll die sooner. Same logic if we have to choose between Roharabacher and Baugh in CA-48.
MURDOCK IN JUNE!
Vote T-Rack.
“He can’t live forever!”
P.S. County Supervisor’s “Communications Directors” don’t get a County car or a car allowance, although I’m not surprised one was wandering around SA in the middle of the day.
Will fix that detail.
Also “longtime Todd Spitzer communications director” is obviously a contradiction in terms.
And I bet that’s the very first time Spitzer ever refused to put his mug in front of Dave Lopez’s TV camera.
“O’Flahertie: “Does something about me scream out “Will Editorialize On Drunken Political Public Urination Scandals?”
Uh, don’t you already know the answer to that one?
Still: your observation that Rackauckas not only absolved the perp for watering the boxes, but that he likely did so after making a deal to his political advantage by arranging to trade clemency for delaying reporting of the matter until the worst possible moment is a brilliant contribution to the debate.
We here can and likely do differ about the relative merits of having an impulsive armed egomaniac versus a corrupt calculating bastard as OCDA — I’ll note that when Racky quits, he’ll be replaced by the compliant Board of Supervisors with his appointed ass-coverer Skang Schroeder, who will outlive Spitzer — we should all be able to agree with Vern that having Murdock in the runoff is imperative. I hope that it’s him against Spitzer because I’m hoping that Rackauckas will get no votes at all.
Well done, Fingal, well done. As your compensation, would you be interested in an entirely dried-out cardboard box from Rite-Aid?
H/t for the Ode.
Nicely done.
Don’t vote for T-Rack. We all have a moral obligation to fix the problem at the DA.
“Don’t vote for T-Rack.”
Too late.
Ya see, Vern, some Republicans still *like* the idea of having a DA who won’t go against Republicans — even if he’s also the guy who (in my opinion deliberately) booted the prosecution of the cops who killed Kelly Thomas.
(Maybe that memory didn’t last. But I seriously am shocked at the lack of even symbolic resistance here.)
Oh but, as I have documented, he goes easy on the Dems who back him as well – Agran, Pulido, Daly, Brandman…
http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2014/05/a-rackauckas-retrospective-is-this-the-county-we-want-to-be/
Tony Racetrack for DA.
“He can’t live forever.”
A guy pissing in the corner is always going to be a low priority case, but I like how you used it to call out white privilege. Excellent use of race baiting.
Im telling ya so true, if it was a Mexican or black guy, or homeless person they would have faced serious jail time and do – that is if the cop or security guard did not shoot him or her or “reluctantly” just beat them into unconsciousness. .
I can NOT use my real name.
But I can ASSURE you, this is a minor crime, no matter what color your skin.
The SAPD deals with more than 100 urination citation’ s EVERY MONTH, sometimes two.
Someone SHIT on the St. Anne’s alter, a three time loser out early, he was not cited. On Thursday of this week a mentally ill homeless women placed 11 USED sanitary napkins throughout the library.
To claim “Special Treatment” or race played a factor is disingenuous for certain.
I Don’t know, although I suspect politics played a part here, but pick your battles…….You have no idea what the establishment government does on the front lines of this battle.
He peed on a cardboard box containing merchandise in a retail warehouse, not against a remote tree on a wall in an secluded alley.
The chyron says that he peed on “merchandise” suggesting that the boxes were not empty. Do you think that Rite Aid sold that merchandise? If they couldn’t, wouldn’t that constitute conversion of property? Do people get prosecuted for THAT, “Mike the DA”? How is it different legally from just destroying the box and everything in it?
“Minor crime that would be prosecuted? Bullshit. And what kind of defense is “well, it’s not as bad as crapping on an altar? Are you saying that THAT wouldn’t be prosecuted either? If not, then what’s your point — that it’s less serious than something that would be prosecuted — and therefore isn’t serious? Good idea not to use your name.
Ruining $50 worth of merchandise is also a minor crime that won’t get prosecuted anywhere in Orange County today. Do you ever get tired from all that stretching?
How do you know that it was only $50 worth of merchandise? It could have been over $1000, for all you know — unless maybe you were there. Are you just willing to pull any supposed fact out of a lower orifice and spray it all over the … the …
Hey … you wouldn’t by any chance be Spitzer’s former … Nah, couldn’t be … right?
Wrong as always.
Does spiking a comment with no discernable content to it count as “censorship”?
You’re an idiot, but at least you’re a cowardly idiot.
He was drunk in public, drove there drunk, his weeney was out for everyone to see. Yeah I can just see a cop pulling next to a stumbling drunk black man standing by his car weeing by the side of the road – he rolls down his window and says “hey are you having personal problems, perhaps I can get a private therapist to come by your home later?”. Yeah happens all the time in the Twilight Zone some people live in.
The cops always approach reeling drunk homeless people weeing on the bushes – remember he was so drunk he does not remember it, catch that part? – and the cops just tell them “oh not having a good day? Hope it gets better”, I saw that in an Outer Limits episode I think.
“A clerk just passed by and she’s lucky I missed her.
Stand back from the spray cuz I work for Todd Spitzer!”
I’ve not seen the wit, nor rhyme quite so cruddy
Since Whedon penned lines for William the Bloody.
Yet a smile’s delight, and one scoopful of spite
A saga so silly shakes mirth through my study.
Killed it dude
Duh, Tony in a walk!
No.
*What? You want Monty Hall? Sorry he went over the hill..quite some
time ago. We will go with Tony!
[Ed. note: I don’t know how much more clearly we can say that we discourage anonymous attacks in our comments. This is especially people when someone has used a pseudonym AND a fake email address AND two different anonymized IP addresses for two comments. I’m leaving this up because people have replied to it, but don’t reply to any comment by this commenter again because when his or her comment gets trashed your replies to it go there as well. For the record, the now-deleted comment made a few cogent (if debatable) points, such that it’s not fair to blame Todd Spitzer for his aide’s behavior. That’s not why I’ve crumpled it up and set it on fire. Smart readers, even if they need to read this editor’s note a second time, will be able to figure out why it’s gone.]
You get pretty easily confused for a supposed DA. Those of us who are (arguably) overstating the seriousness of the offense aren’t criticizing Todd for it, but Tony – for delaying action until politically useful.
Yeah…you’re no DA or you would know that. You’re just another one of our usual trolls.
Yes, but the whole “person of color” angle was an unnecessary distraction.
Apart from Tony Racetrack’s behavior I think it’s well worth noting that Spitzer employed an alcoholic with “demons.” It’s also worth noting that one of Spitzer’s employees was wandering around OC in the middle of the day on a bender.
Oh, bullshit. Do we need to say “if he was a white mentally ill homeless person” for you to think that the comparison to who gets favored treatment over whom is not an “unnecessary distraction”?
Cook up a fake issue and then flout it? Lame. And desperate.
You should read Vern’s stories sometime.
But you’re just ASSUMING that DA stands for “District Attorney” Several other possibilities come to mind, one in particular, none flattering..
I’m Shocked, Shocked to find there are trolls in here!
Round up the usual subjects.
But having the opposite point of view isn’t a troll.
1/2 of America does not believe in evolution so in stats we should get 50% against 50% for, unless they are the youth which are more inline with science at around 73& for evolution.
A lot of people like Todd and “The Rackauk”.
George Bush a born again Christian believed earth was created in 6 days and dinosaurs walked with man.
And so there are many that believe in Todd and “RA” the supreme DA.
The world is a crazy place.
The Sptizer vs. Racetrack choice is not the product of ignorance so much as the pervasive role of big money in OC politics. Spitzer got all sorts of dough over the years from the police unions over the years and has used it to scare off challengers. Racetrack was installed by OC’s Repuglican oligarchy 20 years ago and has been kept there by the same crowd, the Deputy DA union, plus various well-heeled lawyers trying to ingratiate themselves with the boss.
I really wonder if there is a single person in this county who believes either one of them is honest DA material.
Yet another argument in favor of Murdock then, at least for June. We don’t need to choose the lesser of two evils just yet…
Most people’s memories don’t go far enough back, but Rackauckas was installed 20 years ago as a reaction to an honest Republican DA (Capizzi was it?) who had been going after corrupt politicians OF HIS OWN PARTY, something T-Rack promised to NEVER do.
It’s amazingly hard to find articles about that any more, like they’ve been squelched. I need to work on that some day soon.
“Yet another argument in favor of Murdock then, at least for June. We don’t need to choose the lesser of two evils just yet…”
It if will make you feel better, go for it. I’d like Spitzer gone ASAP, although I have to admit I would enjoy the mutual savagery.
And to have Spitzer gone ASAP, you SHOULD have voted Murdock.
How does voting Rackauckas in June help at all? Of COURSE he’s making it thru the primary.
No, if Racetrack gets 50% +1 Spitzer’s gone.
Murdock? What’s a Murdock? Crazy Lenore is going to get more votes.
Classic conservative internet “CLAW” persona: Confident, Loud, and Wrong. (Wronf about Lenore, not about majority winning in a primary.)
No I seriously mean one of our trolls. It’s deleted now but this “Mike the DA” was unable to focus and began to randomly trash all the favorite targets of “David Vasquez” and “OCDEM.”
I think Big Box is on to something, and “DA” just meant “dumb ass.”
I thought that maybe “Mike the DA” was someone pretending to be Spitzer, given that if elected that’s what he would ceaselessly want the media to do.