The vice chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors Monday endorsed board colleague Todd Spitzer in his bid to unseat Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas.
The endorsement from Supervisor Shawn Nelson came despite their years of clashes on the board and his past support of Rackauckas, who is serving his fourth term.
Nelson did not make an endorsement in the June primary, but the rest of the Board of Supervisors endorsed Rackauckas, who was first elected 20 years ago.
“That’s what’s so beautiful about this, why it’s so significant,” Spitzer said of Nelson’s endorsement despite his conflicts with Nelson over the years.
“We’re both very strong-willed,” Spitzer said. “But irrespective of our differences, from time to time we both agree on the premise that the office needs change and that Tony no longer is running that office.”
Efforts to reach Nelson for comment were unsuccessful. But in a statement released by Spitzer’s campaign, Nelson said he found Spitzer to be a “principled leader who cares deeply about the people and victims of Orange County.”
The District Attorney’s Office is “on the wrong track and deserves a fresh direction,” Nelson said in the statement. “Poor leadership and decision making is denying the citizens the top rate agency they deserve. It is time for a change.”
Rackauckas has been rocked by a series of scandals in recent years. His office’s attempts to put Scott Dekraai, the worst mass killer in the county’s history, on death row crumbled when an appellate panel upheld a ruling that the defendant’s constitutional rights had been violated and the judge presiding over Dekraai’s case punished prosecutors by removing the death penalty as an option. Dekraai, who pleaded guilty to the beauty salon massacre in Seal Beach, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In recent months, Spitzer has criticized Rackauckas and his chief of staff for taking jet rides with billionaire Broadcom founder Henry Nicholas, who was recently arrested on drug charges in Las Vegas.
Rackauckas’ office is again coming under fire by attorneys for a jail contractor’s technical mishap that led to inmates having their phone calls to their attorneys wrongly recorded. At issue is whether any prosecutors were given recordings from law enforcement partners and did not report them to a judge, as they should when the calls were supposed to be private by law.
Rackauckas was also sued in federal court by prosecutor Karen Schatzle. She claimed she became the target of retaliation by her boss when she ran for judge against his wishes because Rackauckas instead backed Orange County Superior Court Judge Scott Steiner, who was censured by a state watchdog agency for having sex in his chambers.
Rackauckas also drew fire in an Orange County grand jury report that concluded there was a perception among his employees that the office has issues with sexual harassment. Rackauckas repeatedly disputed the grand jury’s report last year.