Foes Question Mayor’s Health

Opponents of the reelection of Fullerton Mayor Mike Clesceri argue in campaign mailings that the former criminal investigator is not physically fit to hold office, given his full medical retirement from the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Among those raising the issue is an associate of Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas, whom Clesceri had investigated on behalf of state prosecutors when he worked for Rackauckas.

This year, Clesceri, who wore a wire in an attempt to gather evidence against Rackauckas, was granted medical retirement as assistant chief of investigations for the district attorney’s office. His illness, Barrett’s esophagus, which can be a deadly precancerous disease, predates the investigation and is exacerbated by stress, Clesceri said.

Clesceri says Rackauckas, whose office was under investigation by the state attorney general’s office, is now trying to get even, which the district attorney denies.

Rackauckas’ friend and former campaign manager, Michael Schroeder, said he was spending $10,500 to help fund campaign mailers against Clesceri.

Schroeder, a resident of Corona del Mar and former chairman of the state Republican Party, said he did not discuss the mailers with Rackauckas. He said he offered financial support because he wanted Fullerton residents to know about Clesceri’s medical retirement.

“I’m simply offended by what is an apparent abuse of the workers’ compensation and pension system,” Schroeder said. “I believe Mike Clesceri is the poster child for how out of control that system has [become]. A lot of people have stress every day in their lives and still don’t ask the taxpayers to subsidize them.”

Clesceri, 39, said the focus on his medical retirement was misdirected. “This isn’t about me in this political race. This is about Rackauckas and his next political race.”

Rackauckas is up for reelection in 2006.

Rackauckas denied that he was retaliating against his former employee. “I haven’t made any attempt to campaign against him or to, in any way, do anything that would have any effect on his race. Period.... Mr. Clesceri basically seems to be saying anything that he thinks might be helpful to his campaign.”

At the heart of the issue is the role Clesceri played in 2001 when, at the request of state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, he secretly wore a device to record conversations with high-ranking members in Rackauckas’ office.

At the time, Lockyer said he launched the investigation to determine whether a top district attorney’s official had lied to law enforcement.

“I did what was right,” Clesceri said. “I stood up to corruption.... I was retaliated against while I was in the office. I’m being retaliated against now.”

Clesceri went on medical leave in May 2002, and this year was granted a full medical retirement -- about half his annual salary of $116,000 -- by the Orange County Retirement System’s board of directors.

No charges were filed against Rackauckas as a result of the state investigation.

But a related Orange County Grand Jury report in 2002 accused Rackauckas of intervening in cases to benefit friends and political supporters, unfairly punishing political enemies and misusing office resources.

Schroeder’s involvement in the mailers is evidence that the trend is continuing and rearing its head in his mayoral reelection bid, Clesceri said.

The claims that Clesceri is not physically fit to hold office are being promoted also by the Fullerton Assn. of Concerned Taxpayers, which says it has no ties with Rackauckas. The organization has sent two mailers and sponsored an anti-Clesceri website.

At issue, the group said, is abuse of taxpayers. If Clesceri lives an average life span, FACT member Chris Thompson said, his total medical retirement payouts could be likened to winning a lottery. “He’s admitted that stress exacerbates the problem. If stress exacerbates an illness, how can you be qualified to be a city councilman or mayor?”

Thompson also said it was dishonest for Clesceri to have sought medical retirement while pursuing other employment, including the police chief’s job in Placentia. Clesceri said he withdrew his application when the retirement was granted. He has not sought any public safety jobs since then.

Although Clesceri has acknowledged that stress exacerbates his illness, he said that being on the City Council was not stressful.

Councilman Leland Wilson, who has endorsed Clesceri, agreed.

“Campaigning is stressful, but the job itself is not,” Wilson said. “This whole thing is rather ridiculous. Should Mike lose for something that has absolutely nothing to do with the city, it would be a shame. This is not a Fullerton issue -- it’s a personal issue.”