Today, fired Assistant District Attorney Todd Spitzer will call his former boss, Tony Rackauckas, “corrupt.”
And as already previewed by R. Scott Moxley in OC Weekly, Rackauckas will return fire by calling his former protege mentally unstable and unethical.
The district attorney will describe Spitzer as a kook, a nut with Napoleonic ambitions and style, who tried to get investigators to work his barbecue and steer legal work to his friends.
Meanwhile, Spitzer is now going all-out to expose what he said is Orange County’s dirty secret: Rackauckas doesn’t investigate politicians. He only makes deals with them.
And, Spitzer says, Rackauckas is grooming his controversial chief of staff, Susan Schroeder, to take over soon, much to the chagrin of district attorneys who have now been swept up in loyalty oaths as the Spitzer-Schroeder factions in the office square off.
“Tony Rackauckas and Susan Schroeder govern through fear,” Spitzer said. “That’s why there’s an internal rebellion erupting. People are infuriated with what Tony and Susan are doing to the office.”
Schroeder and Rackauckas have declined to comment until this morning’s news conference.
And Spitzer says he’s ready for reporters when the district attorney is done presenting his case against him. He said he’s got documents to refute every allegation.
I’ll be with our broadcast partner, KOCE, this afternoon to participate in a panel discussion about the controversial firings after covering the dueling news conferences.
Joining KOCE reporter David Nazar and me will be Flash Report publisher Jon Fleischman and former OC Common Cause President Bill Mitchell.
Fleishman is batting in place for Rackauckas, who declined to come on camera. Mitchell, meanwhile, is standing in for Spitzer, whose offer to appear on camera was declined by KOCE.
I’ll be standing in the middle.