Politics in the D.A.’s Office

It’s expensive to run for public office, be it national, state or county. But among the financial contributions that candidates for nonpartisan offices should reject are those from donors who will become subordinates if the candidate wins.

Anthony J. Rackauckas did not follow that policy in his campaign for Orange County district attorney last year. Election records show that his campaign received nearly $26,000 from 72 of the 240 prosecutors in the district attorney’s office.

While that total came to less than one-quarter of Rackauckas’ campaign contributions, it is troubling that, by The Times’ count, 10 of 12 promotions he has made went to contributors to his campaign. Rackauckas uses a different count, but the way to negate the issue would have been to emulate his opponent’s practice and not take contributions from prosecutors.

Many of those Rackauckas promoted are well-regarded veterans in the office. But for outsiders who do not know them, it’s easy to assume there was a link between the contributions and the promotions. That doesn’t necessarily mean a quid pro quo. However, it could be perceived as subtle favoritism, just enough to tip the balance in favor of someone who feels strongly enough that Rackauckas should be district attorney that he’s willing to put up money.

Rackauckas said the contributions played no part in the promotions. He said the moves were based on merit and followed a long review process. The new district attorney was familiar with office staff from his days as a deputy district attorney and later as a judge.

Rackauckas said it would have been unfair to deny promotions to those who contributed to his campaign. That is true. And that is another reason he should have shunned contributions from those he now supervises.

Rackauckas said he had no regrets about accepting the contributions. He did say that if he runs for reelection in three years he would not take donations from his employees. That is encouraging, but the reality is that an incumbent district attorney would have to be considered a strong favorite for reelection. Raising funds will not be a problem.

A district attorney should be careful not to give the impression that he is politicizing the office, favoring those who finance his campaigns. Both Rackauckas’ opponent and his predecessor, Mike Capizzi, made it a point not to accept prosecutors’ contributions. So should any future candidates for that office.