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Orange County DA Bristles Over Comments On Proposed Contract By Board Of Supervisors Chairman Todd Spitzer. Spitzer Was Victim Advocate in 2011 For Workers' Compensation Defense Attorney Louise Armstrong.
By Lonce LaMon - February 3, 2015

Southern California Orange County District Attorney, Tony Rackauckas, wrote a letter yesterday to the Chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, Todd Spitzer, and made it available to the Media late yesterday evening. 
 
Spitzer had criticized in a public meeting on January 27th 2015 the Orange County District Attorney (OCDA) for not disclosing some professional relationships within the Anaheim Police Department from the past, which were now involved in a new contract between an outside company, RCS Investigations and Consulting LLC, and the OCDA to conduct background checks of OCDA hires.  Spitzer recommended requiring county staff to disclose social relationships with proposed contractors, and referred to a recent controversy over former Orange County Parks Deputy Director Michael Brajdic steering $913,000 in no-bid contracts to his grad-school friend, Ahmad Iqbal. 
 
But Tony Rackauckas took marked offense to his former close colleague’s words.  Todd Spitzer had been Rackauckas’s heir apparent in the OCDA’s office up until he was fired by Rackauckas in 2008 over what Rackauckas viewed as an improper contact Spitzer made with the Public Guardian’s office. 
 
Rackauckas wrote, “… you launched an ambush alleging impropriety on the merits of hiring an outside firm to conduct background checks on new employees and the impartiality of the bidding practice.  Anyone whose true motives are placed on transparency and savings for taxpayers would not make such accusations and bold statements in the public without doing due diligence in gathering information.” 
 
Rackauckas said this and much more in spite of Spitzer having said that his observation “doesn’t mean there’s any impropriety, it just means we should know about it,” and again that he’s “in no way alleging any misconduct, impropriety whatsoever.” 
 
But an old rivalry, a brokered deal, and a falling-out may have made this relationship between the two politicians sensitive and laced with touchy dignity.
 
In 2006, there was talk of the soon-to-be termed-out Orange County Supervisor, Spitzer, mounting a serious challenge against Rackauckas.  That stoked fear inside Republican circles that Spitzer would be an effective prosecutor when it came to politics and elected officials.
 
Spitzer eventually decided against a run for Orange County District Attorney. Instead, he brokered a deal with Rackauckas to return to the D.A.'s Office as a prosecutor with the understanding that he would run in 2014 with Rackauckas' official blessing.
 

Todd Spitzer
Spitzer stayed quiet inside the DA’s office through a half-dozen assignments in the felony and fraud divisions. He said he was scheduled to teach prosecutorial ethics on issues involving crime victims for the entire DA staff in early October 2008.
 
But John Williams, the elected head of the Public Guardian's Office, apparently sent Rackauckas a notification -- confirmed through a statement received by the Orange County Register -- saying that Spitzer had improperly contacted his staff.
 
Spitzer had made a call on behalf of Huntington Beach resident Teddie Alves, who had called Spitzer at the Harbor Justice Center and asked him to look into allegations of domestic violence and elder abuse at the Public Guardian's Office.
 
"She [Alves] told me a crime was occurring," Spitzer said in a 2010 quote published in the Voice of OC, adding that as an officer of the court, he was obliged to look into the matter. "That's what's so ridiculous," he said about his firing.
 
But Todd’s firing seems to have not derailed him, as his ambitions moved him forward as a Victim’s Advocate.  He was the statewide campaign manager for Marsy’s law. 
 
Marsy’s law was made a part of the California constitution in November of 2008.  It was named after Marsy Nicklass, who was a college senior at U.C. Santa Barbara when she was killed by her jealous ex-boyfriend in 1983.  
 
This law gives victims of violent crimes 16 basic rights. 
 
On January 19th 2010, Workers’ Compensation Defense Attorney, Louise Armstrong, employed by State Compensation Insurance Fund, was attacked, beaten, and carjacked in the parking lot of the Anaheim Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board.  She was hospitalized and then again rehospitalized after the attack, suffering some permanent damage.  Very frustrated by the manner in which her case was dragging on, and how her attacker got a bail hearing and was released from custody without the court even notifying her, Louise sought out and hired Todd Spitzer to represent her.
  
One of the rights a victim has now through Marsy’s law is the right to counsel to interact with the District Attorney.   Another right is the right to be notified of all court proceedings; the right to attend bail hearings and give input into what bail should be; the right to be informed of any plea bargaining and to participate in plea bargaining; the right to give a victim impact statement in court.
  
In the case of defense attorney victim, Louise Armstrong, she felt that her rights had been violated when her attacker, who struck her with such force it caused her a skull fracture and bleeding on the brain, was granted a bail hearing and released from custody without her being notified.  
 
Todd Spitzer said to this writer by phone in September 2011 after Louise Armstrong’s assailant, Darryl Nolan, was sentenced to 16 years in California state prison on August 29th 2011, “There were numerous, numerous rights that were violated,” against Louise. 
 
Todd further said in that same phone conversation, “We put Marsy’s law into the California constitution because victim’s rights have been trampled on for many, many years.  Louise reached out to me, and once we asserted her Marsy’s rights, the case really started coming forward.  So, I started making appearances on her behalf, representing her as a client-victim.”
 
The contract to outsource background investigations at the Orange County District Attorney’s office was scheduled to return for a decision by Orange County Supervisors today.   Chairman, Todd Spitzer, most likely read Tony Rackauckas’s letter before entering the meeting. 
 
 
 
lonce@loncelamon.com, journalist Lonce LaMon; copyright adjustercom and Lonce LaMon; all rights reserved
 
 

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