I say “most” offices because where an eligible incumbent does not run, filing is extended for five calendar days.
(Note that this isn’t completely done because I haven’t checked all of the other counties that share some of these districts with us. But that will happen once I wake up, sometime before 5:00 p.m.)
I’m not covering state executive offices except for noting that Supervidsor Andrew Do is running for State Treasurer. I might vote for him if it will get him the hell out of OC. No, just kiddingL if I voted for him, it would be because it would increase the chances of doing something so catastrophically awful and corrupt that would end up with him in prison.)
In all-important BOE-4 news, OC Republicans Denis Bilodeau, John Kelly, Matt Harper, and Erik Peterson — yes, that list includes two Huntington Beach City Council candidates from last cycle! — have all joined maltreated Democrat David Dobson in filing for that sweet, sweet, highly compensated BOE seat. CDP’s endorsement of Mike Schaefer in the race, putting him in danger of losing to one of these fellas, or more likely, Joe Exotic (oh, wait, that’s Republican Randell “Randy” Economy) out in Riverside — is now officially political malpractice.
Democrat Obaidul Huq Pirjada is running for U.S. Senate. Look, taking out papers for statewide offices is fun and all, but — unless you’re trying to keep your political party on the ballot by getting over 2% of the vote, like Green Party candidate for Attorney General Dan Kapelovitz is — actually paying to run for those offices is a waste of money that you could be investing in cryptocurrencies! But good luck to Pirjada.
CONGRESS
Republican Eric Ching has taken out papers for the 38th Congressional District, which will continue to be represented by Linda Sanchez.
The east OC 40th Congressional District, where far western OC’s Young Kim will be running against once promising (before he went to Florida and ran into a Stone named Roger) Greg Raths — now has three other fellow Republican candidates: Nick Taurus (who I’m guessing is either a DC superhero or an old Ford with light body damage)/ Fuji Shioura filed but did not qualify, which is quite a feat in a seat that only requires state residence. Sole Democrat Asif Mahmood, who I recall being a really good guy based on his 2018 run for Insurance Commissioner. Mahmood’s chances of making the runoff are pretty good: He is guaranteed a spot if he gets over a third of the vote, and if Taurus takes over 6.67% of the vote then he’s guaranteed a spot with 30%. That’s doable!
Republucans Michelle Steel and Long Pham both qualified for CA-45 and Jay Chen has apparently qualified from LA County, so that “two on the ballot” seems a bit misleading.
Lou Correa is running for re-election in CA-46, against fellow Dem Mike Ortega and four delightfully vote splitting Republicans: Ed Rushman, Christopher Gonzales, Mike Nguyen, and belated arrival Felix Rocha Jr. Things look bright, but Ortega needs money, and people who appreciate him taking on the Consevadem will have to help him get it.
Ambulatory trash receptacle Scott Baugh has filed against to run against Katie Porter in CA-47, where he’ll first have to get past fellow Republicans Brian Burley, Amy Phan West, and Errol Webber. And OJB is already loaded for Baugh-er!
It’s still Mike Levin against Republicans Brian Maryott, Renee Taylor, and now Lisa Bartlett in CD-49. I think that Levin has a decent chance of making the runoff….
STATE SENATE
Whittier’s Henry Bouchot is running against incumbent Bob Archuleta for State Senate district 30, and those of you in my neck of the woods should join me in supporting him. Late editions include Democrat Martha Camacho Rodriguez and Republican plumber — as we near the 50th anniversary of Watergate’s Republican plumbers! — Mitch Clemmons.
In SD-32, Republican Kelly Seyarto has filed, this bringing to my attention that this is also an OC district. She’ll face at least a Riverside-based Democrat, Brian Nash.
In SD-34, Incumbent Democrat Tom Umberg is on the ballot against Republican Rhonda Shader.
In SD-36, Janet Nguyen and Kim Carr will face off, as Carr came through on the last day.
In SD-38, Republican Matt Gunderson will take on Democratic Poseidon proponent Joe Kerr, not of Brea.
STATE ASSEMBLY
In AD-59, Republican incumbent Phillip Chen is on the ballot, currently opposed by nobody. Start bugging Lee Fink to run in this not-at-all progressive district. No at last report, nobody from San Bernardino is running either. Like most other races, this is listed as going into extension, though not having an incumbent, it doesn’t seem to meet the criterion that an eligible incumbent must not run for there to be an extension. We’ll see what happens!
In AD-64, Rose Espinoza the only candidate from OC, but she’ll be up against four LA Democrats —Elizabeth Alcantar of Cudahy; Roberto Cancio of Norwalk; Blanca Pacheco, Mayor of Downey; and Ana Valencia of Norwalk. To make things even tougher, there’s one Republican: Robert Ortiz of La Mirada. Rosie’s changes are probably to activate La Habra (obviously) and become very well-known and well-liked in Whittier, La Mirada, and environs.
In AD-67, Sharon Quirk-Silva faces challenges from Democrat Param Brar, Republican Sou Moua, and from Cerritos in LA County, Republican Soo Yoo.
In AD-68, Tom Daly — who paid his filing fee, which may be his biggest contribution to the state of California — has dropped out! (I’m wondering if the Building Trades just informed him that they thought it was time to hire — um, I mean support — someone less colorless.) His district director, Anaheim Councilthrall Avelino Valencia, swooped in to file before the echo of Daly’s announcement had even faded. This race does legitimately go into extension, so don’t be worked up about the roster just yet. Progressive Dem Bulmaro “Boomer” Vicente has qualified (but has no candidate statement.) Republicans James Wallace and Mike Tardif have respectively qualified and done what’s necessary to do to qualify. The double Republicans in a highly Democratic district suggest that an Avelino vs. Bulmaro race is certainly a possibility — so, thanks, Mike Tardif, for splitting the vote!
In AD-70 — the freaking halfway point on our list of new Assembly Districts — has Republicans Ted Bui, Emily Hibard, Kimberly Ho, Tri Ta, and now Jason Gray face off against Democrat Diedre Thu-Ha Nguyen. I have some thoughts.
In AD-71 — which includes that part of East County that is not also part South County, and then heads for Temecula — two Republicans are on our ballot, Jennifer Richter and Kate Sanchez. Riverside has Republican Matt Rahn. I’m beginning to suspect that this is a Republican district.
In AD-72, all three candidates who took out papers are on the ballot. Democrat Judie Mancuso (who I keep thinking is named Julie so I apologize if I ever write that) is up against two Republicans, City Council member Diane Dixon and Benjamin Yu. Looks like a partisan runoff.
In AD 73 — which used to be south of AD 74 but is now north of AD 72 — Assembly members Steven Choi and Cottie Petrie-Norris, respectively Republican and Democratic, look to be heading to a meaningless primary. Friend of the blog Luis Manuel Huang took out papers, but doesn’t look like he’s going to pay the fee, which is the smart move. Just taking out papers against Cottie — who is not the guilty party in the state health-care fight, that being Governor Newsom — was enough of a shot across the bow, and a less expensive than a filing fee.
In AD 74, Assemblywoman Laurie Davies and Great White South County Moderate Democratic Hope Chris Duncan are the only two who have qualified. Nobody from San Diego is running. Another meaningless primary that I’m sure won’t feel like it.
JUDGES (only the competitive races)
Orange County Superior Court Office 6 will pit Deputy DA Claudia Alvarez — WHO I EXPECT WILL HAVE LOTS TO TELL US ABOUTTHE OPERATION OF THE OFFICE UNDER BOTH RACKAUCKAS AND SPITZER — will be running against non-ADA Kimberly La Salle. Dan Espinosa may also qualify for the ballot before the dust clears, increasing the likelihood of a December runoff.
In Office 9, being vacated by James DiCesare, Superior Court Commissioner Joe Dane will face off against Deputy DA Christopher Duff.
In Office 11, Chief DA Shawn Nelson is up against against Marc Gibbons, who has no ballot designation — raising the question of which designation is better. [rim shot!]
Office 21 generated a lot of interest, but only two aspirants qualified: Deputy DA Eric Beltran Rowe and Attorney Ray Brown.
Office 22 is what the shouting is about: Deputy District Attorney (he got to use the title!) Brahim Baytieh against Los Angeles Deputy DA Craig Kleffman are on the ballot. Villa Park attorney Fred Fascinelli is also on the ballot, but has not yet qualified.
Office 28 has Deputy DA Eric Scarbrough against this-far-unlabeled Jessica Cha, who have both qualified.
Office 30, that of the late and widely respect Frank Ospino, shows no one having qualified, although the log says that the race is on the ballot. I honestly don’t know what happens at this point.
Office 33 has (appropriately enough) three candidates on the ballot: Deputy DA Steve McGreevy, Attorney Brett Wiseman, and Attorney Tom Martin.
In Office 38, incumbent Scott Steiner remains unopposed.
Finally, in Office 45, Deputy DA Israel Claustro and Del Norte County Superior Court Commissioner Kevin Brian Jones have both qualified for a vacated seat.
Department/Board of Educatsion
For County Superintendent of Schools, incumbent Al Mijares has some competition from Stefan Bean, who says that he is also a School Superintendent and also a parent.
On the Board of Ed itself: in Area 2 Mad Doctor’s Wife Mary Barke has a challenge from retired school board member Martha Fluor, who I’m betting will get one of Vern’s house ads in the sidebar. Christopher Ganiere has also taken out papers.
While 5 people took out papers for Area 4, the balance of Tim Shaw’s term, only Shaw and Paulette Chaffee have qualified.
In Area 5, incumbent Lisa Sparks will face a challenge from Retired School Superintendent Sherene Smith.
County Executive Offices
Supervisorial District 2 was the one where Vicente Sarmiento was expected to run, but he hasn’t yet filed his declaration of candidacy (although he has paid his fee. It looks like Kim Berenice Nguyen is going to carry the progressive standard against Joe Dumitru and Juan Villegas. Contrasts don’t get much more contrasty than this!
District 4 incumbent Doug Chaffee is facing challenges from both Sunny Park and Trumpish Brea Mayor Steve Vargas. Vargas would probably lose the runoff — as a hometown Republican told me recently, “everyone on the Council hates him” — but he could knock out either Chaffee or Park in the meanwhile. If Marty Simonoff of the Brea Council does complete his filing — he’s paid, but not filed his declaration of candidacy, that could make things much better.
District 5 is where Katrina Foley is running, but the question has been: against whom? Crooked Diane Harkey or Superannuated Patricia Bates? Well … how about both? All three have qualified for the ballot, Foley having just yesterday signed on the dotted line.
Assessor: Claude Parrish has been heading for a collision with Rick Foster — but Foster has not yet completed his Declaration of candidacy. Hopefully, it happens today! Otherwise, it doesn’t happen at all. Larry Bales has also made a late rush and qualified for the ballot; maybe that’s why.
Auditor/Controller: Andrew Hamilton has not qualified for the ballot — but he’s further along than John Moorlach, who is reportedly having some problem with his professional qualifications. Based on research I did four years ago, I could probably help him with this, but he’s not going to ask. Good luck, though.
Clerk/Recorder: Hugh Nguyen has a challenge from Sandy Kimble, who has an interesting ballot designation.
District Attorney/Public Administrator: Todd Spitzer being challenged by Democrat Pete Hardin and suspected Raucauckasista Michael Jacobs.
Sheriff/Coroner Don Barnes is unopposed. Thank you, Lou Correa, Tom Daly, and the pusillanimous DPOC!
Treasurer/Tax Collector Shari Friedenrich is also unopposed.
*Again, Dr. D. outdoes himself….with a terrific take on the upcoming election cycle. We can’t tell whether it is: “Rounding up the usual suspects!” or “Deja Vu all over again!”.
One thing is for sure, the electorate has caught on and are not looking through their fingers as they may have in the past. Depending on the generated “Hit Pieces available!” we believe the outcome may turn out very good.
How about the Great Undercount during the 2020 US Census? As if that was a surprise?
*Moorlach, Barnes and Freidenrich……sounds like a law firm doesn’t it?
Sure, but so does “Ron & Anna Winship.”
As I write this comment, candidates making filings have about 20 more minutes to get down to the ROV — and you should eat and drink first because you may be in line for 2-3 hours before they get through the line of last-day filers. It will also take quite a while for them to make process the crazy final day’s filings, so I don’t expect that we’ll have clear results on today’s filings until tomorrow morning. But, in 20 minutes, we know that the pool of candidates to file will be able to grow no larger.
Why hasn’t dr moreno filed for Daly’s seat?
I guess that Boomer has the inside track. Not everyone well-established in Southern California wants to go to Sacramento, you know.
“Baugh Files?” My favorite old Baugh story of mine was https://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2011/11/private-scott-baughs-non-profit-for-the-children-oc-marathon-is-actually-for-profit-and-other-surprises-from-the-fair-board-meeting/
Where it turns out that his OC Marathon that everyone thought was a non-profit to help fat kids get less fat was actually a profit-making venture for big portly Scott himself. Read to the end for Barbara Venezia putting Scott on the spot, asking him if “the gay can be prayed away.”
Scott always seemed like a reasonable sane guy compared to Dana Rohrabacher. But he’s as corrupt as anyone in the OC GOP and a big Poseidon shill.
CA 46 – I’m not sure exactly how to read this candidate’s log, but Ortega is sure that he’s all good and squared away. He just had to loan himself some money he was hoping not to have to.
CA 48 – why would Lisa Bartlett give me hives?
Superior Court Office 30 – Lauren Johnson-Norris tells me (I think I already mentioned this in comments) that her friend Michele Bell is running for the Ospino vacancy, against Mike Flory. Apparently I’ll be doing an interview with Michele … unless Ada tells Lauren and Michele not to talk to me, which seems to be happening a lot.
We’ll have a lot of BAUGH-HAHAHA this spring. Maybe longer.
I’m concerned about Ortega because this was his status as of this morning, pending today’s update:
If he did most of what he had left to do, which was almost everything, then he did it today. Either way, this is not what one wants to see on the morning of the last day of filing.
Boomer, in contrast, got everything done. It doesn’t show him having a candidate statement, but it doesn’t show that for anyone else either.
But Mike Ortega did tick off nine of the twelve boxes on the last day and will be one of the two Democrats facing four Republicans on the CA-45 ballot.
Mike Flory? Not that asshole, again. They just don’t quit.
Well, sounds like a FFFF archive pull.
There was a compendium written by somebody called Lonnie Machin (I don’t know if that’s a pseudonym). Mike may have mommy issues.
That particular writer was (is?) a ballsy wizard.
Probably in the Ukraine now.
Oh yeah, I knew there was one other thing! I hope you were being sarcastic when you called Kim Bernice (sp.) “progressive.” Otherwise you forgot three things:
1. She’s a protege of Lou Correa, and even ran a phony spoiler campaign for Supervisor in 2018 with the goal of swinging the election to Lou’s friend Miguel Pulido;
2. She’s like best friends with Avelino Valencia; and
3. She was the Chief Inquisitor against Jeff Le Tourneau, Julio Perez, and yours truly.
Anyway, Vince qualified at the last minute yesterday, thank the gods.
Eeep! Yes, I had forgotten all that. I was just trying desperately to make sense of what looked like Vicente’s likely failure to file.
Thanks for the timely correction. As I’m out, you’re welcome to correct the post’s text accordingly.
Mr Baytieh is not entitled to “Deputy District Attorney” for his ballot designation for multiple moral, ethical, and legal reasons I challenged the designation. I expect an answer Monday. So stay tuned.
For those unaware, the author of this comment is one of Baytieh’s opponents in the judge’s race. Take that for whatever it’s worth.
Mr. Kleffman, please tell us why we should vote for you, rather than Brahim Baytieh or Fred Fascenelli.
By the way, I got to know Fred Fascinelli in covering Villa Park politics. Seemed like a smart and decent guy. Probably conservative, but one can be both conservative and a good judge. I reserve judgement.
Is Craig Kleffman the guy that Lee Fink said was involved in the recall of George Gascon?
Boomer kicked off his campaign today. If some folks got the impression that Daly dropped out because he didn’t want to run against a young progressive popular grassroots Latino, then … maybe there’s some truth to that!
AD68 (Daly/Valencia) is one more reason the state party should not hold endorsement conventions before the filing deadline.
On the one hand that’s true…
But on the other I’m kinda glad that nobody, not Boomer, not Avelino, not whatever other Dem may jump in this coming week, will be running with the state party endorsement.
“Boomer” is about to learn the HARD WAY about nicknames.
The trades, I suppose through Avalino and Daly camps (with SOLID support from the KBN cabal, Vern is right!) launched a social media blitz that implied “BOOMER” was a loser.
This was one or two levels above the OC NEWS blog or whatever the Hardin/DPOC ANONYMOUS BLOG publishes (the “insider” site that VOC and EVERYOTHER site does not dig into) and way more high tech than the Mail attacking Josh Newman, Vern and Donna and Jose Moreno.
Is Boomer married? to whom and should he decide to sweep the skeletons back in the closet……..
I smell a RAT and his name is JOSE MORENO.
Buckle up BITCHES.
We get a lot of hateful illiterate trash from this person, who is now naming themselves after the address of the new DPOC headquarters (owned by Andy Thorburn, and where I used to work.) I usually delete them.
I have my problems and differences with the DPOC, but I don’t believe that anyone there is this malevolent and inarticulate. Sounds like the old Mardahl shit, or one of his drunk buddies.
I mean, what’s this? – “Is Boomer married? to whom and should he decide to sweep the skeletons back in the closet……” Are we to believe the DPOC and the “Kim Bernice Nguyen cabal” is planning to attack Boomer for being openly gay? I really doubt it.
Go jump off the top of the 2-story 1475 building, break a few bones, and don’t come back.
There is an inordinate number of maggots in our site’s Trash right now.
You do what you want, but I’d send this crap back there to decay.
And it’s a free-for-all in the late Frank Ospino’s Superior Court Office 30 –
As predicted, Michele Bell and Peggy Huang have filed, as WELL as Andrea Mader, Alma Hernandez, Kira Rubin, and Benjamin Stauffer (the latter of whom apparently jumped over from running for Office 21.)
No Flory yet, but I think you can say that was a flurry!
And two more days to go.
I was going to say that virtually all of the filings today were in Ospino’s seat and Avelino’s filing for Daly’s seat.
But that’s not exactly true. Literally all of the filings were in those two contests.
*So Pappa John Moorlach will not be running for OC Auditor/Controller…..and has decided to reassess his options for another day. Meanwhile, news is out that at least eight members of Congress are paid operatives of the Russian Government. Evidently, RazPutin has been buying off electeds in both houses along with lots of European Union electeds. Where is Senator Eugene McCarthy now that we really need him?
The bottom line….any member of Congress buying off on Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
should endure a public flogging!
*Eugene McCarthy??
I still have one of his bumper stickers somewhere.
I have a feeling they meant Joe McCarthy. Can you think of a reason they might have really meant Eugene? (I’m still getting over those famous debates between Abe Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.)
I can’t connect the concept of reason with “them” at all, although I’m pretty sure there is no “them,” just a confused old “him.” But there I go being sexist again.
Accepting Anna’s participation on “their” posts is a formality. It’s sort of like letting him choose his pronouns. And we don’t know what they discuss over their breakfast table; I’ve presumed that it’s mostly this blog, and that it’s all very Noel Coward-y.
I remember one time that they disagreed with each other, back in 2008 when I was first at this blog. Anna (who’s from some Scandinavian country) opposed the anti-gay Prop 8, and Ron supported it.
Gene McCarthy was not really a leftist, but an anti-war libertarian — common both in our county and in the contemporary “objectively pro-Putin Left.” Sort of an proto-Tulsi Gabbard. So he could have meant Gene, but I think he meant Jenny or Charlie.
What word is out where about the alleged “paid operatives in both houses”? I wouldn’t be shocked, but I would need to see a cite to (maybe) believe it.
Edited to add: I think that one issue with Moorlach was that his CPA license was no longer active and he would not be able to reinstate it in time. I think that that came from either the VOC or OCR.
*As usual, our entire team always gets it right. Oddly, we were right for both: Joe and Eugene for that matter. Anyone in a snow storm they say. Saw Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee all cloistered together putting their heads together on how to bring down the Jackson Nomination. Hawley is such a putts……giggle artist in his little group….that he is. So he hates Biden, Harris, Pelosi and now Jackson.
Does that make him Special? He is just so Special!
If you’re straining for the Yiddish word for “penis” to describe Hawley, it’s spelled “putz.” Yiddish being the best language in existence for describing gradations of personality and character disorders, it has literally thousands of words to describe Carnival Cruz.
*As we once told mom when she said: “You are driving me crazy!” The response was: “That’s no drive……just a short putt!” The wooden hanger
came out on that comment, by the way!
So, now we know what a Putz is….what is a Futz then?
I’m really trying hard to remain neutral in the AG’s race until such time (if ever) that I endorse.
If I endorse Hardin, this story will be a big reason why. Todd, this is making you look like both a corrupt rabbit and a scared bunny. Just stop it! For your own sake, run on your record, and campaign only lawfully!
https://voiceofoc.org/2022/03/when-does-a-government-website-become-a-political-campaign-promotion/
If you’re still neutral, you haven’t been paying ANY attention.
I’m waiting on some answers from Hardin, like: is he involved with that secretive group that’s been lambasting Spitzer? I don’t think that it’s a problem for me not to have endorsed a candidate 2.5 months before the primary.
I’ve made clear what I don’t like about what Spitzer has been doing, in the campaign and otherwise. BUT, his argument that the claque that’s coming out against him is composed of Rackauckas dead-enders — Baytieh included — seems plausible to me. At a minimum, I’d like to see Hardin address that too. Has he criticized Rackauckas at all? Would you be shocked if he took the Daly/Correa/Chafee/Agran position that having a DA who protected important Democrats was a good thing? Have you even ASKED HIM about this?
Having already made up one’s mind, and decided not to ask hard questions of all candidates, is taking the fun and easy road. I’m still inclined to ask some hard questions — including:
(1) “well, wasn’t using the N-word when it was a direct quote considered OK less than a decade ago (so long as one recognized it as distasteful) — pretty much accepted in academic settings and legal settings when you’re trying to prove, for example that someone is a racist?”
(2) And if so, isn’t it a pretty weak argument to call Spitzer a “racist”? (I’m not saying that there aren’t other compelling ones, just that this particular one is being asked to bear more weight than it can.)
This is not a “failure to pay any attention.” This is just refusing to climb onto the dogpile and render my decision reflexive rather than reflective. The bonus is that my decision to endorse or not to endorse Hardin will matter more than your decision to endorse him, already made from the outset, because it will come from my independent evaluation rather than just my going with the flow.
There are times where I’m willing to do that, obviously — Jay, Mike, Boomer, etc. — but in this race I feel no need to hurry. Insulting me over it just makes you look like a dork. Embrace your discomfort.
I don’t know what it means for someone like me to “endorse,” I’m not sure anyone cares who I endorse. But you may forget, Todd’s use of the n-word (3 times in 20 seconds) was only Exhibit C of the racism case against him. (Although many people did point out how easily that word rolled off his tongue, while when “fuck” came up he substituted “f-word.”)
A much bigger thing was his inquiring, in the midst of deciding whether to bring the death penalty against a black defendant, whether his previous girlfriends had been white. And then his weird riffing off that, about the reasons black guys go out with white women. Based on one guy he knew in school. (And then, inevitably, his attempts to cover all of that up, firing Baytieh in retribution on false pretexts, losing the ability to bring the death penalty and then not informing the victims’ families about all that in contravention to his cherished Marsi’s Law… oh what a tangled web we weave when first we ponder out loud on a defendant’s racial/romantic preferences!)
But the turning point for me was Todd’s complete exoneration of Fullerton Police Officer Jonathan Ferrell for the killing of Hector Hernandez, while bizarrely claiming that Ferrell “feared for his life.” At that point I realized that he had never brought charges against any killer cops or sheriffs and he was no better than Rackauckas in most ways. Or, maybe, “Rackauckas without illegal snitches.”
But more than that, it’s Todd’s TEMPERAMENT that makes him unfit for the job. He mucks up everything with his grandstanding and playing God. We kinda knew this before we elected him, but hoped he’d be a little better than he has been.
BTW Donna and I went to the campaign launch at the Irvine home of the “third” candidate, Mike Jacobs, the other night, I’ll be writing about that today. Conservatives and scaredy-cats who want a more competent “tough on crime” guy should consider him. And that’ll help keep Todd below 50% in June.
Endorsing means saying that you want people to vote for a given candidate. (And I’m sure that people do care who you endorse. I know that they care who I endorse from the number of hits posts get.) Taking that stand may in turn may color your coverage of the race. I don’t mind that when I’m confident in my conclusion about the race (Jay, Katie) or am fighting for an underdog (Mike, Boomer.) Other times, as in this DA race, I think that I can better serve readers by not choosing to tell them at the outset who deserves support. They both need to address questions.
Spitzer’s backing up a cop in the killing of a minority is a kind of racism, but it’s a kind that the vast majority of prosecutors engage in. (You can ask Jacobs about that; my bet is that he’d be the same, right?) Using the N-Word when addressing the question of someone’s racism is absolutely legitimate (if not done with relish), as it speaks to the question of racism. Using the word “fuck,” by contrast, does not make any fact relevant to conviction or sentencing more or less likely, so that’s no reason not to censor one’s use of that word. So that leaves us with the one that has made the most news.
As I’ve written here multiple times, I think that Spitzer’s disquisition on what Black men do with respect to white women, and why, was jaw-droppingly bad form. Racial ignorance? Absolutely. Racial animus? I’m not so sure. I suspect that, sometimes, Spitzer can just be sort of a doofus.
The Fish Taco arrest falls into the same category. He sees things so readily from his own viewpoint that he doesn’t always watch what he’s doing and how it’s going to come off. (Sneaky Rackauckas seems like he was very much the opposite.)
Speaking of whom: I think that the difference between us is that you think that this race is all about Spitzer. I don’t; I think that it’s still largely about Rackauckas and the tendrils that he still may have in the DA’s office. I do not want to see those days return, because while Racky may have been (in fact, surely was) a lot smoother than Spitzer, he was also a lot more dangerous. Can you really rule out that Baytieh and others are carrying water for Racky? If not, then I’d think it should disturb you more than Spitzer being a dork. (Frankly, I prefer someone whose subordinates will turn on him when he does something wrong then someone who, as was true of Rackauckas, someone whose subordinates will usually form an iron wall of silence around him.)
So when I want to know how Hardin (and Jacobs, and the fourth guy) feel about Rackauckas, it’s because I do not want to see a restoration of that regime. And I’m worried that a lot of our worst Democrats do want exactly that.
If you found out that Hardin was tight with Rackauckas or the Rackauckas Hallelujah choir, wouldn’t that give you pause? It wouldn’t give pause to the “blue no matter who” Democrats — but it should!
You keep leaving out the fact that he was admittedly allowing the question of whether the black defendant had habitually dated white women to affect his decision on whether the guy deserved the death penalty. And I’m sure it wasn’t in the direction of “So he likes white chicks – give the guy a break!”
Nope. I condemned that comment, especially in that context, a long time ago. And, again, the cover-up — refusing to produce it the the defense, before unilaterally tossing out the option of the death penalty, in violation of his own “Marsy’s Law” — was worse than the crime, especially if it did involve firing Baytieh over it (which I don’t think is proven.)
But here’s the point: while chattering about why black men date white women, based on what he saw in law school, was cringeworthy (and, secondarily, incorrect), it was also not a justification for why the accused deserved the death penalty. There’s no indication that he thought that it was justified the death penalty. His after-the-fact justification, that his dating history showed that he was good at telling white people apart from each other, actually makes more sense than the notion that he was taking a “we white guys should kill him because he had sex with one of our women” stance.
Again, the simplest explanation is that he just was being kind of dorky, speaking out loud in front of a group of professionals who he thought were his allies but who actually were ready to throw him to the wolves at the earliest opportunity. There’s a weird, almost guileless aspect to what he said under what he seems to have thought was a cone of silence, to which the best response is “duuuuuuuude….” It, he, comes off more as just deeply weird that actively malevolent.
And, of course, once he said that, his enemies within his own agency kept it on ice for a while until they found the perfect time to spring it. Now, again, I think that it’s worth asking whether those enemies are part of a Rackauckas restoration project — and if so, are either or both Hardin and Jacobs part of such a project? You’re the one on good terms with both — you should ask them about their views on Racky and Rackyism.
At some point we need to establish what “Rackyism” is exactly, besides possibly loyalty to an old retired fool. I suggest:
1. The “win-the-most-severe-prosecution-at-all-costs” philosophy including breaking and bending rules and laws, up to & including using illegal snitches and lying about it, and withholding helpful evidence from the defense;
2. Never prosecuting law enforcement, and almost never prosecuting politicians especially powerful / Republican ones.
I think that’s about what Rackyism is or could be, and I think Todd has departed from it only in small ways.
By the way I was expecting to see and meet well-known Spitzer foes like Baytieh and Tracy Miller at Mike Jacobs’ campaign bash, but only family, neighbors, and Love Cameron were there.
Let’s add protecting corrupt politicians for one’s own political gain. Taking a prominent murder case away from one’s prosecutors to try it oneself and intentionally blowing it. Defying state investigations and judges’ orders to cease and desist unlawful activities. Overcharging crimes so that even the innocent plead guilty to prevent massively inappropriate sentences. Spit and acquit abuses.
I think that Spitzer has moved further away from it than you do — but frankly I’d like to hear him explain how and where he has changed course, so that that claim can be analyzed. (Did we have the foresight to make a list of his campaign promises?)
Sadly, seeking such an interview is probably not a job for the likes of querulous old us. Maybe I should call the VOC Tip Line….