Conroy, Spitzer Battling Over High-Stress Job

Supervisor Don Saltarelli offers this advice to the two men hoping to be his successor: Be prepared to take some serious heat.

Saltarelli’s 3rd District seat represents cities from La Habra and Brea on the north to Lake Forest and Mission Viejo to the south, home to widely conflicting views on the hot-button issues of the day.

Foremost are the controversial proposals to build a commercial airport at the El Toro Marine base and expand the James A. Musick Branch Jail.

“You are going to have to have the guts to make some very difficult decisions,” said Saltarelli, an outspoken proponent of redrawing the five county districts. “We have so many tremendously varying perspectives in this district. You are going to have to come here with an open mind, be willing to listen to the citizens and know you can’t please them all.”

With a month to go before election day, the two candidates hoping to win Saltarelli’s seat already have reputations as battlers.

This race pits two men from different generations: Veteran Assemblyman Mickey Conroy (R-Orange), 68, a retired Marine major, against Deputy Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer of Brea, 35, a former prosecutor of the year and trustee of the Brea Olinda Unified School District.

Any thoughts that this would be a tame, gentlemanly affair were dashed in Mission Viejo on the night of Sept. 17. That’s when Conroy stunned others at a Republican rally by flipping off Spitzer, thereby setting the stage for what most observers believe could become a bloody campaign.

“I think this has some potential for being a barnburner,” said Dan Wooldridge, a veteran county political consultant and former supervisor’s aide. He predicted both candidates would become “assertive” in charges and countercharges as the weeks wear on.

Both men expect to win, for different reasons.

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Conroy has the political connections and the name identification after nearly six years as a Republican member of the Assembly. He has won endorsements from most of the county Republican leaders, including Sheriff Brad Gates.

Spitzer has won the backing of much of the North County portion of the district and, despite being a decided underdog, placed second last March in a hotly contested primary of seven candidates. He also won two key South County endorsements in recent weeks, those of Mission Viejo Councilwoman Susan Withrow, the third-place finisher in the primary, and the South County Chambers of Commerce.

Both candidates have lost endorsements, however, by spending their energy attacking each other’s backgrounds early in the campaign. Lake Forest Mayor Richard T. Dixon, who first leaned toward backing Conroy, now said he is not “publicly endorsing either candidate.”

“The two candidates don’t seem to be addressing the issues,” Dixon said. “They just seem to be throwing stones at each other. That’s very, very frustrating. I’m not convinced either one will be good for South County.”

Spitzer has consistently hammered at Conroy’s Nov. 18 trial on a sexual harassment charge brought by a former part-time staffer, as well as the assemblyman’s failed attempt earlier this year to pass a law that would require paddling graffiti vandals and students.

“Conroy’s record on women’s issues and children’s issues is appalling,” Spitzer said.

Conroy insists he’s innocent.

“Don’t buy into it, there’s nothing to it,” Conroy said of the harassment charges. “I could have settled it 2 1/2 years ago but I chose not to. The charges are absolutely false and Mickey Conroy will not give away taxpayers’ money just because somebody wants it.”

Conroy has struck back at Spitzer, repeatedly calling him a “damn Democrat” because he once worked for former state Sen. Art Torres, a Democrat from Los Angeles who is now his party’s state chairman.

“He’s pandering for votes, that’s all he is doing,” Conroy said.

Spitzer responds by saying he worked first for John Seymour, a former Republican U.S. senator from California. He said he long ago switched his party registration to the GOP.

“Philosophically, I’ve always been a Republican,” Spitzer said.

Both agree on the more substantive issues. Although polls show the district is split on the airport issue--the north favors building a commercial airport on the base, the south adamantly opposes it--both Conroy and Spitzer are against the proposal.

They both also suggest any new jail should be built elsewhere.

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Spitzer says it should be in Santa Ana, near the county’s courthouse, while Conroy claims a jail should be shared by several counties and built at George Air Force Base near Victorville in San Bernardino County.

Both say they have the oversight ability and the training--Spitzer on the school board and Conroy in the Assembly--to avert another county financial catastrophe.

“Mickey Conroy is never asleep at the switch,” said Conroy, who has won the endorsement of county Treasurer-Tax Collector John M.W. Moorlach, the man widely known for predicting the bankruptcy.

Spitzer said his college training in particular is vastly superior to his opponent.

“I have the education that my opponent doesn’t have: a master’s degree in public policy,” he said.

And both support Measure A on the November ballot, which calls for term limits for county supervisors.

At the moment, most observers suggest that Conroy has much more established ties to the Republican Party, the overwhelming majority of the 285,000 registered voters in the district, making him the early favorite.

“The conventional wisdom is that it’s Mickey’s race to lose,” Wooldridge said. “He has to be figured the front-runner in terms of fund-raising and by virtue of the fact he is a conservative Republican legislator.”

But this is one county race that has no shoo-in. Spitzer has undeniable energy and resolve and could take advantage of Conroy’s “stumble” over the finger episode.

“Conroy has opened the door a crack. Now it’s up to Spitzer to kick the door open and make it a serious race,” Wooldridge said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

3rd District Campaign

Assemblyman Mickey Conroy and Deputy Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer are running against each other in the 3rd supervisorial district. A preview of the race:

THE DISTRICT

A sprawling area encompassing all of La Habra, Brea, Fullerton, Lake Forest, and Mission Viejo; parts of Orange, Santa Ana, Tustin, Villa Park and Yorba Linda; unincorporated communities of Orange Park Acres, Cowan Heights, Foothill Ranch, Lemon Heights, Orange Hills, Portola Hills, Tustin Foothills; and Modjeska, Santiago, Silverado and Trabuco canyons

Voters: 285,000

THE CANDIDATES

Mickey Conroy

Age: 68

Occupation: Assemblyman (R-Orange)

Residence: Santa Ana

Family: Married; two children, three grandchildren

Education: Attended University of Maryland and University of Virginia

Background: County resident since 1970; military veteran with 16 years’ service in the Marine Corps and five years in the Navy; Assembly member since 1991

Todd Spitzer

Age: 35

Occupation: Deputy district attorney, Orange County

Residence: Brea

Family: Married

Education: Bachelor’s degree, UCLA; master’s degree, UC Berkeley; Hastings Law School

Background: Trustee, Brea Olinda Unified School District; reserve police officer, Los Angeles Police Department

On a proposed commercial airport at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station:

Opposed. “I was a leader in the opposition to the airport at El Toro. As a Marine officer who believes in a strong defense, I would like to see the base remain open. There is still a slim hope that it will be retained as a helicopter base and for military housing.”

Opposed. “I haven’t seen anything that will mitigate the noise and traffic issues. I also haven’t seen any demand study that the airlines are even going to need a new base.”

On expansion of James A. Musick Branch Jail:

Opposed. “California intends to build a federal prison and a state prison at George Air Force Base [in San Bernardino County]. It would solve permanently the solution for all the counties. . . . The [environmental impact report] on the jail is absolutely flawed, I believe.”

Opposed. “We should follow the 1994 grand jury recommendation to build it in downtown Santa Ana. That’s where all the jail infrastructure exists in our county. There is a place to put it there now. And there’s no money on the table right now to build a maximum-security jail in Lake Forest.”

Source: Individual candidates