Blog note: this opinion piece references a grand jury report.
Your editorial on July 7, “Let Orange County’s Law Enforcement Watchdog Work,” made critical points urging the Board of Supervisors to reverse a recent vote to have the Office of Independent Review focus on its originally purpose — to watchdog our county’s criminal justice agencies.
The public has a right to know that board politics is not only hindering, but quashing critical oversight of the county’s biggest law enforcement agencies — the Sheriff’s Department and the District Attorney’s Office. This is at a time when both agencies are under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and have suffered from terrible and tragic missteps.
Nothing has changed in my quest to provide proper oversight since, as board chairman is 2015, I fought and won the expansion of the OIR to all county agencies involved in criminal justice. It had become clear that Orange County needed a watchdog over the Sheriff’s Department after the murder of John Chamberlain in our county jail in 2010. But since the OIR’s creation, malfeasance and misconduct continued to permeate other departments, including the District Attorney’s Office. The public has waited long enough and certainly now deserves answers.
Since the OIR expansion in 2015, the county has had a jail escape by three hard-core felons who took advantage of a failure to routinely inspect the jail plumbing tunnels; a Grand Jury report detailing avoidable jail deaths; and the most egregious of all: misuse of jail informants which caused a judge to remove the District Attorney from the county’s worst mass murder case. And because of that egregious failure to properly administer justice, the death penalty was then taken off the table denying the public and the victims their just punishment. The most recent Grand Jury report requires a response from the board and avoidable in custody deaths could result in taxpayer liability. Yet all has been delayed and rebuffed for political reasons.
Instead of lasering in on these problems, the board completely ignored these situations and assigned the OIR the task of investigating homelessness over the next six months. Homelessness is a very important topic, yet illegalities and injustices in the judicial system have plagued the county for years and should remain top priorities.
Even OIR Director Kevin Rogan issued a list of priorities, which included the modest request of two staff members to dive into these issues. But these requested priorities and the necessary resources to accomplish significant results were ignored as well. Politics trumps vital policy.
As the Register pointed out, Supervisor Andrew Do used his power as chairman to dangle a shiny object and deflect attention away from these pressing issues. This was done in typical politician fashion to try and protect his ally, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, before the November election.
I voted to continue the OIR, but stated on the open record that the board was ignoring these critical issues. Now I am being accused of using the OIR for my own political purposes as a candidate for district attorney, which is sad and laughable when the press, the public and I have been consistently demanding inquiries into these matters for years.
I completely agree with the Register Editorial Board that the Board of Supervisors should reverse its vote and direct the OIR to do its job focusing on criminal justice.
I am running for District Attorney because I value the oversight of the OIR and welcome transparency and oversight. As your District Attorney I will ensure that the public is protected and tough questions answered. I will not be silenced by or protect politicians who defend the status quo. As the Register Editorial Board points out, we deserve better.
July 14, 2018
The Orange County Register
By Todd Spitzer, an Orange County supervisor
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