No Fight Falls Under the Neutrality Act in Spitzerland

I figured to find Todd Spitzer in a good mood. After all, the young supervisor from the 3rd District had just added the county counsel to the list of high-ranking officials he’s irritated. For a guy who promised to shake up the bureaucrats if he got elected, Spitzer is only 15 months into his term, and he’s doing just that.

So when I asked midweek, “Are you having fun?” I was surprised to learn there was no joy in Spitzerville. “When you’re in politics and having fun,” the 37-year-old Spitzer said, “is when you’re in the majority. When you’re in the minority, it’s called work.”

Spitzer has been on the losing end of a string of votes on the proposed El Toro airport, but his maverick status goes beyond that. Time and again, he’s questioned county officials on how they do their jobs, sometimes on specifics and sometimes just in general.

That isn’t how you make bureaucrats happy. They like to be left alone--just ask former treasurer Robert Citron. The refreshing thing about Spitzer is that he’s apparently tone-deaf to how his critiques sound to his colleagues or county officials.

Either that, or, as I suspect, he just doesn’t care. As for the complaints from some inside county government that his pronouncements are pure grandstanding, he replied: “I just think I’m making them work too hard.”

He talks like that a lot. When we spoke, he was revved from the get-go. It didn’t take him long to bring up the lack of political leadership in the county and his sense that he may have to step in.

“I think I came into this job with a lot of naivete,” he said. “I thought that the bankruptcy [in late 1994] would have been a catalyst for major changes in the mentality in county government in terms of oversight responsibility and active participation by board members.”

Alas, he says, only he seems interested in questioning the establishment. “I have to tell you, and I’m glad you called . . . it’s been a very frustrating experience to fight for openness and responsiveness and bringing in a new mentality for oversight and responsibility and not getting that much support for it.

“I’ve taken on personalities that nobody ever dared to,” he said, citing Dist. Atty. Mike Capizzi, Sheriff Brad Gates and county CEO Jan Mittermeier. That was after, he notes, he walloped state Assemblyman Mickey Conroy to win the seat in the first place and became the county’s youngest elected supervisor in 80 years.

In another not uncharacteristically self-charitable moment, he said: “The irony of it all is, through my zeal to get county government to lift the curtains and the window shades and start to air out some of the dirty laundry, people have taken more issue with me as an individual as opposed to the fact that--let’s talk about ideas. They don’t like the fact that every issue I look at, I’ve been looking at it from the vantage point of how can we do it better.”

Spitzer’s style is guaranteed to rankle--his colleagues, that is, but not necessarily voters. He is not what you’d call circumspect. I suspect voters down the road may like that--and forgive him if he pops off once in a while--if only because they’ve seen lots of candidates who talk tough on the stump and then turn into stuffed animals when they get elected.

Not Spitzer. He has not mastered the niceties of keeping your mouth shut if you don’t understand something. Nor is he plagued by modesty.

“I became a lawyer and got a master’s degree in public policy to prepare myself for this kind of work,” Spitzer said. “I spent $105,000 of my own money to get elected. This is not something I thought of getting into the day before I ran for supervisor. I knew there would be an opportunity at some point in life where there would be a void and gap in leadership and somebody like me, with my fortitude, would need to step forward and be held accountable.”

That sound you hear now is the other supervisors’ teeth gnashing.

By his deeds shall he become known.

To that end, it’s obvious to me that Spitzer won’t be content as a long-term supervisor. Because of the skirmishes already under his belt, he said, “I’ve got three years left and it looks like a helluva long road.”

Unless someone changes the unwritten law prohibiting Orange County politicians from winning a statewide race, Spitzer can forget about ever becoming a U.S. senator or California governor. It isn’t difficult, though, to picture him in Congress.

In the meantime, we’ll have to settle for the brash one on the Board of Supervisors.

Fine with me. Love him or loathe him, for the time being, he’s the best show in town.

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821, by writing to him at The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or by e-mail at dana.parsons@latimes.com.