Spitzer’s Early Departure Was Trickery, Coad Says

Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Cynthia P. Coad on Tuesday refused to support a Jan. 28 special election to fill former Supervisor Todd Spitzer’s vacant board seat, slamming her former colleague in the process.

Coad accused Spitzer of timing his resignation last month to kill an attempt by her husband, Tom, to run for the 3rd District seat. “The early resignation was a calculated trick to thwart Tom Coad’s candidacy,” she said. “My abstention will serve to point out how hypocritical some people and politicians can be.”

The other three supervisors voted to set the special election.

Spitzer, who was elected Nov. 5 to the 71st District seat in the state Assembly, resigned from county office Nov. 19.

That pushed back the residency requirement to fill his seat, meaning Tom Coad’s voter registration form for his move to Spitzer’s former district needed to be postmarked by Nov. 16. He mailed it Nov. 17.

Had Spitzer resigned when he was sworn in Monday, Tom Coad could have run for the county board. Coad is a retired dentist who has worked as an unpaid advisor to his wife.

Spitzer, who had new-member training in Sacramento on Tuesday, denied trying to kill Coad’s candidacy, saying he resigned to save the county money.

“The day after the election, I was already in Sacramento working with the Republican Caucus to address the largest budget deficit in state history,” he said. “Why in the world should I draw a salary and take advantage of the taxpayers of Orange County while no longer performing the work of a supervisor?”

Spitzer said he had no way of knowing when Tom Coad had mailed his form. “The citizens elected me to solve state problems, not to do the Coads’ homework for them,” he said. “They have only themselves to blame.”