Capizzi Officially in Attorney General Race

Orange County Dist. Atty. Mike Capizzi on Tuesday announced his candidacy for state attorney general, saying voters should choose a career prosecutor as the Republican candidate for the state’s chief law enforcement post.

“I am offering a choice between a prosecutor and a politician,” said Capizzi, 58, who started as a deputy district attorney 33 years ago and was elected to run the office in 1990.

Facing Capizzi in the June primary for the GOP nomination is Dave Stirling, 57, who is on leave as chief deputy attorney general. He has also served in the other two branches of government, as a state assemblyman and a Superior Court judge.

On the Democratic side, Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer of Hayward and state Sen. Charles M. Calderone of Whittier are widely mentioned as candidates, while former San Diego Rep. Lynn Schenk is also said to be a possible contestant. The GOP race pits Stirling, who is favored by the party establishment, against Capizzi, who has been widely criticized by some Republican leaders for his prosecution of local GOP activists involved in campaign skulduggery during the critical 1995 election to oust renegade Republican Doris Allen of Cypress, who got herself elected Assembly speaker with the help of Democrats.

Most observers call the contest a toss-up at present, and say the determining factor would be which candidate can make a breakthrough in fund-raising. Both candidates say they expect to spend $1.5 million on the primary campaign.

“If one of them falls way behind, that is fatal,” said Dan Schnur, advisor to the state GOP, noting that candidates whose names appear lower on the ballot must spend heavily to get the attention of voters.

Capizzi had a large edge in fund-raising six months ago. The Stirling camp said it has hit its fund-raising targets but declined to discuss numbers. Capizzi has about $300,000 cash in the bank, said consultant Ron Smith. The next reports are due Jan. 31.

Another key factor is Capizzi’s base in Orange County, where one in eight of the state’s 5.6 million Republicans live.

That should help Capizzi, who is well known countywide, said several Republican consultants. They discounted the significance of the grudge against him by party insiders.

“People don’t like politicians,” said GOP consultant Mark Thompson. “The public doesn’t care if Capizzi is putting politicians in jail. In fact, it is probably a plus.”

However, Stirling campaign aide Mike MeCey said Capizzi’s record in Orange County is one of “gross incompetence.” Capizzi, he said, did not get indictments for voter fraud in the 1996 congressional election won by Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove), and failed to successfully prosecute any of the supervisors who presided over the county’s 1994 bankruptcy.

“Look at the Merrill Lynch settlement,” he said, referring to the $30-million bargain Capizzi struck with the Wall Street brokerage to close his criminal investigation. “Those guys are literally laughing in the boardrooms.”

Capizzi made his formal announcement on the steps of the Old Courthouse here, then traveled to Sacramento and San Francisco to repeat the performance for upstate audiences.

During the morning appearance, he was flanked by half a dozen law enforcement officers from several counties. He has been endorsed by 49 of the state’s elected district attorneys and many in the police community.

San Bernardino County Dist. Atty. Dennis Stout said he admired Capizzi for keeping politics out of the prosecutor’s office. “When he talks about the morality of prosecution, it is not just rhetoric,” said Stout.

Capizzi touted his record as a prosecutor of death penalty cases and errant public officials. He also voiced support for boot camps for juvenile offenders and tough sentences for adults and “juveniles who do adult crimes.”

“Three strikes works and if, in the short term, we have to build more prisons, well, then, let’s get started building them,” he told a group of three dozen supporters.

Capizzi also advocated speeding up the death penalty appeals process, labeling the current system “a disgrace.”

He stood by his decisions to prosecute public officials for alleged wrongdoing. Most recently, Capizzi has convicted four Republican campaign workers, including the wife of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), of election fraud for their role in recruiting a decoy Democrat from Huntington Beach in the 1995 Allen recall election.

Assemblyman Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach), who replaced Allen, faces trial this year on felony charges that he lied on campaign finance documents to conceal his involvement with the decoy candidate, a personal friend.

“The cornerstone of Democracy is fair elections,” Capizzi said, adding that “the typical Republican voter identifies with Abe Lincoln, Honest Abe . . . and is embarrassed by those who criticize me for prosecuting” politicians who run afoul of the law.

Stirling has said Capizzi used poor judgment--something that the public cannot afford in an attorney general--in prosecuting those involved in the 1995 election.

In addition to benefiting from the backlash over the 1995 election case, Stirling’s 30-year service to the party as activist, candidate and officeholder is also a factor in his winning the backing of party leaders.

Former Gov. George Deukmejian is chairman of the Stirling campaign and the popular Republican is expected to continue making appearances for Stirling statewide.