VIDEO SURFACES OF ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY TODD SPITZER USING MULTIPLE RACIAL SLURS; RESIGN SPITZER PROTEST IN SANTA ANA THIS WEEKEND

 

A protest against OCDA Todd Spitzer with calls for his resignation is planned for Santa Ana this weekend.  More details as we get them.  OCDA candidate Pete Hardin issued this announcement yesterday.

SANTA ANA– Video surfaced late Tuesday showing Todd Spitzer using the N-Word three times despite censoring himself when saying the F-Word. The video also shows Spitzer using a slur directed towards the Arab community during a meeting with the Iranian American Bar Association.

“Despite censoring other swear words, Todd Spitzer is eerily comfortable blurting out racial slurs directed at the Black and Muslim community,” said Former Marine Judge Advocate Pete Hardin.  “Spitzer’s ignorance of the offensive nature of his racist language in the context of numerous documented racist tendencies disqualifies Spitzer from serving as our chief law enforcement officer. Todd Spitzer is the embodiment of institutional racism and he must resign.”

Video of Spitzer saying the N-Word and other racial slurs comes on the heels of a memo detailing racist comments made by Spitzer that was leaked last week. The internal memos showed that Spitzer inappropriately and illegally considered race during a meeting to decide whether to seek the death penalty against a Black defendant.  Widespread condemnation followed the leaked memo, with the California NAACP calling for Spitzer’s resignation. Conservative and liberal prosecutors alike from some of California’s largest counties have withdrawn their endorsement for Spitzer, including San Diego District Attorney Summer Stephan, Riverside District Attorney Mike Hestrin, Amador County DA (name) and Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley.  The conservative California Women’s Leadership Association has also withdrawn their support, and Newport Beach Police have since accused Spitzer of attempting to “cover up” his racist remarks and failing to inform the victim’s family, a potential violation of the Victims Bill of Rights. Just today, Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network joined calls for Spitzer’s resignation during a protest held outside of Spitzer’s office.

###

Current Orange County District Attorney Republican Todd Spitzer’s tenure has been defined by scandal. Four women in Spitzer’s office have filed claims asserting Spitzer promoted an employee and close friend despite having been made aware of the sexual harassment complaints against him. Spitzer later allowed the employee, who was the best man at his wedding, to retire with top flight benefits. Spitzer also attempted to drop sexual assault charges against high-profile defendants, leading a judge to remove him from the case.  Survivors of the sexual assault survivors were “dragged through the mud” and “grossly mistreated” by Spitzer for two and a half years, leading two of them to abandon their case. 

 

Spitzer has been involved in an evidence booking scandal, a jailhouse informant scandal, and has defamed a victim of OC’s deadliest mass shooting as retaliation for peaceful protest. Spitzer has also defended a DNA collection program known informally as “Spit and Acquit” that coerces defendants to give up their DNA to law enforcement, a practice the ACLU has called “unconstitutional.“

 

Pete Hardin is a former Judge Advocate in the U.S. Marine Corps, Deputy District Attorney, Special Assistant United States Attorney, and one of Southern California’s leading litigators running for Orange County District Attorney. Pete entered public service when, in 2005, he earned his commission as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. A combat veteran, Pete served in Helmand Province, Afghanistan in 2011 and 2012 as a member of 1st Reconnaissance Battalion. Pete is a member of the Democratic Party.

 

Orange County’s rapidly changing electorate has led Democrats to now outnumber Republicans in Orange County holding a 4.1% voter registration advantage.