Supervisor Lends His Voice to Help Out Library Group

Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer delivered singing telegrams to pay for his college education in the early 1980s.

Today, he’s still singing. But, the money he raises benefits charitable causes and organizations.

Spitzer serenaded the Villa Park City Council on Tuesday night as part of a fund-raiser for the Friends of the Villa Park Library Inc.

“I hear the sound of good solid judgment whenever you talk,” he crooned a cappella. “I take heart to see the cool, clear eyes of a seeker of wisdom and truth. Yet, with the slam, bang, tang reminiscent of gin and vermouth.

His two songs, “Brotherhood of Man” and “I Believe in You,” elicited laughter and applause from the audience and the council.

“You’re one guy we know has a career after politics,” Mayor Barry L. Denes joked, adding that Councilman Joseph S. Barsa, who paid $150 for Spitzer to sing to him and his colleagues, “got his money’s worth.”

Spitzer was auctioned off to the two highest bidders at a fund-raising dinner for the library group two months ago. A woman paid $200 to have him sing “Happy Birthday” to a friend. Barsa was the next highest bidder.

Spitzer said he was invited to the dinner, and, when he arrived, he decided to donate a singing telegram as a raffle prize.

“But, we thought that would be just too wonderful,” said Monica Helzer, a library group board member. “So, we auctioned him off instead and raised more money.”

The library group raises money to help keep the county-run Villa Park Library open four days a week. The county pays for two days, and the library group pays for the other two, Helzer said.

She said it costs $2,400 a month to keep the library open the extra two days a week. The money is raised through donations and dinners and raffles. The next dinner will be May 19 in Orange. For information, call (714) 633-2087.

Spitzer said that since he became a supervisor, he’s been receiving more requests for his choral donations. His next engagement will be singing at a fund-raiser for the Boys and Girls Club of La Habra/Brea.

“The reason I started doing this is because people are coming to us, elected officials, all the time for donations, and I’m not rich,” Spitzer said. “This is my way of raising money for charities.”