A long-simmering feud between Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas and Assemblyman Todd Spitzer spilled over in Sacramento last week when the former county supervisor accused Rackauckas' office of lying to the Legislature.
Spitzer said the district attorney's office was being untruthful when it submitted a glowing report on the success of its participation in a pilot program designed to save taxpayer dollars by allowing people who pleaded guilty to driving on a suspended license to serve their sentences at home rather than in jail.
The report, he said, failed to note that some of the participants -- including several drunk drivers -- had been placed in the program even though they were ineligible, Spitzer said.
In what appeared to be a punitive move, Spitzer persuaded his colleagues to bar Orange County -- at least temporarily -- from participating in the pilot program.
Rackauckas' representatives were quick to defend their boss and the county's participation in the program. Rackauckas' campaign chairman, Michael Schroeder, called Spitzer's complaints "purely political."
The two -- both Republicans -- are potential political rivals: Spitzer has told some supporters that he is considering running for district attorney in 2006, when Rackauckas is up for reelection.
"He's positioning himself by these periodic attacks against Rackauckas in case he [runs for D.A.]," said Schroeder, former state Republican Party chairman. "Why else would an Orange County legislator get Orange County excluded from a pilot program?"
Spitzer could bring considerable resources to a campaign if he runs for district attorney. He has a political war chest of $900,000, according to reports filed through February.
Though once rare, such local feuds, particularly between members of the same party, are bound to become more common as term limits encourage politicians to return home and run for local office, said John J. Pitney, government professor at Claremont McKenna College.
However, Spitzer said his concerns are grounded in good policy, not with an eye toward a future campaign. He has long criticized Rackauckas' management of the office, though he endorsed his candidacy in 1998.
By casting the dispute as political, Spitzer said, Rackauckas hopes to deflect legitimate criticism that his office failed to properly manage participants in the pilot program and then lied about it to legislators.
