Todd Spitzer

Supervisors Charles V. Smith and Todd Spitzer took their oaths of office Monday, pledging to work together with other board members as they tackle a host of divisive issues ranging from the proposed El Toro airport to debt refinancing. But some clear differences in style and outlook are already emerging.

He wasn't two months into the job when it became clear that Supervisor Todd Spitzer had skipped a class or two in political charm school. Spitzer erupted at County Chief Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier during a February board meeting, accusing her of deliberately lying to keep supervisors in the dark about shoddy work performed for a county housing program. One month later, he was at it again, this time castigating his former boss, Dist. Atty. Michael R.

Supervisor Don Saltarelli offers this advice to the two men hoping to be his successor: Be prepared to take some serious heat. Saltarelli's 3rd District seat represents cities from La Habra and Brea on the north to Lake Forest and Mission Viejo to the south, home to widely conflicting views on the hot-button issues of the day. Foremost are the controversial proposals to build a commercial airport at the El Toro Marine base and expand the James A. Musick Branch Jail.

County supervisors on Tuesday raised questions about lax oversight of county business during a series of debates heavily tinged with acrimony over the controversial El Toro airport plan. Led by Supervisor Todd Spitzer, board members questioned a $271,000 contract for an El Toro public-relations campaign, an audit on the company overseeing use of the closed base and an agreement for redistributing $7.5 million received from lawsuit settlements that followed the county's 1994 bankruptcy.

After fighting off a last-ditch attempt to sink his county charter proposal by overloading it with unwanted amendments, Supervisor Todd Spitzer won enough votes Tuesday to put an initiative on the March ballot that would let Orange County voters--rather than the governor--decide who should fill vacancies on the board. "I'm pleased that the charter will be before voters as a simple issue to just fill board vacancies," Spitzer said.

An angry Supervisor Todd Spitzer blasted the county staff Friday after learning that a contract to study landfills at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station will cost three times what supervisors have been told. "The magnitude of this deception is more overwhelming than I had imagined," Spitzer said. "Who is giving orders and who is taking responsibility for these actions being taken?"

In a three-hour private meeting Saturday, County Supervisor Tom Wilson convinced leading opponents of the proposed El Toro airport that he was firmly in their camp and would continue to fight the airport proposal in his own style. "We finished the meeting with a standing ovation for Tom, and I believe it was unanimous," said Wayne Rayfield, chairman of the anti-airport El Toro Coalition.

Supervisor Todd Spitzer's request to Atty. Gen. Janet Reno for a federal investigation of the county's housing rehabilitation program was criticized Tuesday by other supervisors, who said a third probe isn't necessary. Spitzer wrote a three-page letter to Reno last week about shoddy work performed on low-income housing and requesting that federal agents look into the situation because Housing and Urban Development funds were used. But on Tuesday, Supervisor Charles V.

In a little-noticed sidelight to the El Toro airport vote this week, two anti-airport supervisors actually voted in favor of one of the four plans, despite weeks of saying they wouldn't support any of them. The result: Long-time proponents of an airport at El Toro have seized on the actions of supervisors Thomas W. Wilson and Todd Spitzer, suggesting that their votes signal the first crack in South County's anti-airport coalition. Wilson's and Spitzer's response: Nonsense.

In a move that one official said could delay by months the county's plans to take over El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, the Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday not to hire the firm that was the top contender to oversee the base closure next year. Supervisor Todd Spitzer, the crucial vote, rejected the proposal on grounds that the county staff had not followed procedure in choosing Cabaco Inc. and its designated manager, Col.