Lawyers Question Call From Capizzi to Saltarelli

Defense attorneys on Tuesday accused Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi of making improper contact with a county supervisor before a crucial vote on whether taxpayers should pick up the legal bills of three elected officials charged with misconduct.

Hours before the Dec. 20 vote, Capizzi called Supervisor Don Saltarelli to explain the nature of the charges he has leveled at Supervisors Roger R. Stanton and William G. Steiner and at Auditor-Controller Steve E. Lewis.

Both Saltarelli and Capizzi said they did not believe there was anything wrong with the substance and timing of the call.

But attorneys for Stanton and Lewis said the district attorney’s action seemed to be an attempt to pressure Saltarelli into voting against paying the legal expenses for the three. Such a vote would have forced them to fight the charges with their own funds or resign from office.

“It’s shameful that [Capizzi] would take an action clearly designed to prevent our clients from defending themselves from these accusations,” said attorney Wylie A. Aitken, who represents Stanton.

Capizzi dismissed the criticism as “much ado about nothing” and said he did nothing improper.

Capizzi said he did not try to influence Saltarelli: “That wasn’t my intention, and that’s not the way it was taken by the supervisor.”

Saltarelli voted--along with Supervisors Marian Bergeson and Jim Silva--to have taxpayers pick up the officials’ legal expenses. Those expenses could exceed hundreds of thousands of dollars, attorneys said.

Defense attorneys said the district attorney’s action was further evidence supporting their contention that Capizzi has too many conflicts of interest and should disqualify himself and his office from handling the cases. Capizzi’s prosecutors have repeatedly denied that any such conflicts exist.

Brian Sun, Lewis’ attorney, said he was “very surprised” that Capizzi called Saltarelli.

“I think he exercised extremely poor judgment,” Sun said. “He was dead wrong and should not have done it.”

Aitken said that without the county paying their legal bills, the elected officials most likely would not be able to afford to fight the charges and defend themselves.

A judge is expected to hear testimony Friday on defense motions to take the cases out of Capizzi’s hands.

Among the conflicts alleged by the defense attorneys are: the board controls Capizzi’s budget; Capizzi and his investigators lost some of their retirement funds when the county went bankrupt; Capizzi was privy to much of the same information as the auditor and board members; and Capizzi’s role during the bankruptcy recovery affected his impartiality.

Lewis, Stanton and Steiner were accused by the grand jury of “willful misconduct” for failing to oversee the investment activities of former Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron.

In an interview Tuesday, Saltarelli said he didn’t “think [Capizzi] did anything improper.”

Saltarelli said Capizzi called him before the vote after watching a television report.

“The district attorney did call me, and we had a chat,” Saltarelli said. “He said that he had seen something said on [a local television program] about what a difficult decision it was [to vote on the legal fees] and that I had drawn some distinctions about whether it was a criminal or civil matter.”

“[Capizzi] explained that in his opinion it was, in fact, a criminal offense,” Saltarelli continued.

The supervisor said Capizzi “was very careful” in choosing his words because “he said he didn’t want his comments to influence my vote, and I did not take it that way.”

Capizzi concurred with Saltarelli’s version.

“I heard a supervisor quoted several times describing [the charges] as a civil proceeding. I felt it was my obligation to let him know we felt they were criminal proceedings . . . and he should know that,” Capizzi said.

Sun said that even giving Capizzi “the benefit of the doubt . . . there are other ways he could have done it. He could have someone else call him.

Bergeson and Silva said they were not contacted by the district attorney before the vote.

Times staff writer Tracy Weber contributed to this report.