OC DA challenger must correct ballot statement

A candidate running for Orange County district attorney will change his ballot statement regarding his verdict-winning percentage from his time as a prosecutor as part of a court settlement with a supporter of his opponent, the incumbent.

Todd A. Spitzer planned to state, "I've chaired 100 trials with a 100% conviction rate" on voter ballots for the June 5 primary election, which are to be printed next week. Under a stipulation and order issued Monday by Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert J. Moss, the statement will instead read, "I've chaired 122 trials with a 92% conviction rate."

The change is part of a settlement Moss oversaw between Spitzer's attorney, Santa Ana sole practitioner Mark S. Rosen, and Corona sole practitioner Chad D. Morgan, who represents San Juan Capistrano resident Collene Campbell.

Campbell, who became a national victims rights' advocate after three of her family members were murdered, is a longtime supporter of Orange County District Attorney Tony J. Rackauckas, who is seeking re-election. Morgan filed a petition for writ last month on Campbell's behalf.

"The 100 percent success record was kind of obviously and provably false," Morgan said.

But Rosen said the statement was accurate because Spitzer selected his 100 most significant cases, all of which he won.

"Now Spitzer has expanded his statement to show the full universe of his cases spanning over 28 years that he was able to compile during this case, for which he overall has a 92 percent conviction rate," Rosen said. "That would get him an A+ for prosecutors."

Campbell disagreed.

"For anyone who is or is trying to be the district attorney, it is critical that he is 100 percent honest about himself and any fact he represents. Spitzer tried to falsify his record to make himself look better and signed that he was attesting it to be true," Campbell said in a statement released by Rackauckas' campaign. "We need to insist on absolute truth in these ballot statements, so voters are accurately informed, not misled." Campbell v. Kelley, 18-00980446 (Orange Super. Ct., filed March 19, 2018).

The settlement, negotiated Friday and finalized Monday, includes the dismissal of a second cause of action concerning Spitzer's statement that he "co-wrote Marsy's Law, the Constitution's victim's protection."

A news release from Rackauckas' campaign said Campbell dropped that cause of action "in order to avoid holding up the printing of ballots."

A news release from Spitzer's campaign said, however, "When presented with the facts in court, Tony Rackauckas' camp ended up walking away from their false Marsy's Law claim."

Rosen said the writ petition "resulted in a complete vindication" of Spitzer and accused Rackauckas' supporters of editing the online Wikipedia page about Marsy's Law to remove Spitzer from its list of authors. Spitzer is a member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors and a former state assemblyman.

The Spitzer press release included a screenshot of the page's revision history that shows the change was made last month, but it does not indicate who made the change.

The fight was the latest controversy in the longtime rivalry between Rackauckas and Spitzer, who was Rackauckas' heir apparent as an assistant district attorney before their relationship soured several years ago.

Spitzer announced last July that he was running for district attorney in 2018. There are two other candidates, Huntington Beach sole practitioner Lenore L. Albert-Sheridan and Brett M. Murdock, a sole practitioner in Brea.

Albert-Sheridan is facing her own legal challenge. Orange County Superior Court Judge Craig L. Griffin on Thursday is scheduled to consider a writ petition that seeks her removal from the ballot because she's under a one-year suspension by the State Bar for failing to cooperate with an investigation and failing to pay court-ordered sanctions. Brea sole practitioner Gregory A. Diamond filed the writ on behalf of Mark Daniels, an Anaheim resident. Daniels v. Kelley, 18-00980421 (Orange Super. Ct., filed March 19, 2018).