Spitzer’s Sacramento Two-Step

With a confident eye toward his Republican bid next year for a state Assembly seat, Supervisor Todd Spitzer said Thursday that he will ask his board colleagues to place a proposal on the ballot to prevent Democratic Gov. Gray Davis from naming his successor.

Spitzer has been raising money since December to replace outgoing Assemblyman Bill Campbell (R-Villa Park). He transferred more than $300,000 to the race and is sitting on a formidable $425,000 war chest. He plans to formally announce his candidacy in two weeks.

But money isn’t Spitzer’s problem. Politics is--especially if he wins.

Vacancies on Orange County’s Board of Supervisors are filled by the governor. A Spitzer win would mean that Davis probably would choose a Democrat to serve the remaining two years of Spitzer’s term--not a welcome prospect for the county’s dominant political party. The county board hasn’t had a Democratic member for 15 years.

The other quandary for Spitzer is the ongoing fight against the county’s plan to build an airport at the closed El Toro Marine base. Spitzer is one of two anti-airport supervisors who have stymied county airport planning when it required a rare four-fifths board vote. But there’s no guarantee that Davis would appoint an El Toro foe should Spitzer win.

Spitzer’s proposal: a March 2002 ballot measure to create a county charter incorporating existing state laws for counties, but with a requirement for an election to fill supervisorial vacancies.

“There are five Republicans on the Board of Supervisors,” Spitzer said Thursday. “I’m confident my colleagues would want voters to replace me with a Republican rather than have the governor appoint. The voters need to have a voice on who my replacement would be to protect their interests, for El Toro and every other issue.”

County Democratic Party Chairwoman Jeanne Costales said voters more likely would reject Spitzer’s plan as a drastic way of fostering his personal ambition. Candidacy papers for the Assembly seat don’t need to be filed for another 10 months.

“There are more Democrats and decline-to-state voters than Republicans” in the county, Costales said. “I don’t think [the charter proposal will] go down very well.”

Spitzer first considered running for the Assembly in 1998 but decided to run for reelection instead this past year. His 3rd Supervisorial District includes the cities of Brea, La Habra, Fullerton, Yorba Linda, Villa Park, Orange, Mission Viejo and Lake Forest and the unincorporated areas of Orange Park Acres, North Tustin, Lemon Heights, Cowan Heights, Silverado Canyon, Trabuco Canyon and Modjeska Canyon.

Orange County’s Board of Supervisors hasn’t traditionally been a fertile launching ground for those seeking higher office. But county voters approved term limits for board members in 1996, allowing no more than two four-year terms. That makes Spitzer the first supervisor to acknowledge it was time to move up or out, since his second term ends in 2004.

“With term limits, it’s inevitable that I’d have to leave anyway, it’s a fait accompli,” he said. “This will become the rule, not the exception.”

Campbell must leave his seat in 2002 because of state term limits; Assembly members are limited to three two-year terms. He represents the 71st Assembly District, which roughly overlaps Spitzer’s supervisorial district.

Campbell said Thursday that he isn’t looking for another government job--though he wouldn’t rule it out--and isn’t interested in running for Spitzer’s county seat. He praised Spitzer’s work as a supervisor but said he hasn’t endorsed in the race. New legislative district lines are being drafted now for 2002, and that could affect the pool of candidates, he said.

The one thing that won’t change for the Assembly and supervisorial districts, he said, is South County fervor against an El Toro airport.

“If it stays about the same, El Toro will be an extremely important issue” in the race, said Campbell, who opposes the county’s airport plans. “It becomes a litmus test for voters.”

As for the prospect of a Davis appointment, Campbell said it is unlikely the governor would select someone unpalatable to local voters. Davis was chief of staff to Gov. Jerry Brown in 1979, when Brown appointed Edison Miller to the county board. Miller was a former prisoner of war accused of collaborating with the North Vietnamese during his captivity. He served for 18 months before being replaced by former Assemblyman Bruce Nestande.

“He’d never do that again,” Campbell said of Davis.