Case Files at Heart of Dispute in D.A. Race

By PETER M. WARREN

Sept. 30, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES POLITICAL WRITER

SANTA ANA — A local prosecutor Monday accused one of his colleagues of using county time and resources in his campaign to be elected district attorney.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Sean Stafford charged that Assistant Dist. Atty. Brent Romney last month had a secretary in the prosecutor’s office gather case files to be used “to dig up dirt” against Superior Court Judge Anthony Rackauckus Jr., who is running against Romney for district attorney.

Romney denied misusing county resources, saying he sought the files as part of his job as one of the senior supervisors in the office.

The charges are some of the first attacks aired in the district attorney’s race, which takes place next year and promises to be bitterly contested. Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi is leaving office, and in addition to Romney and Rackauckus, Assistant Dist. Atty. Wally Wade is running for the post.

Stafford said he concluded that Romney was misusing county resources when a secretary asked him for two files that were on a list of 13 three-strikes cases prosecuted before Rackauckus in which the defendant did not get a maximum sentence. Both of the files had been charged out to Stafford.

“I think Brent knows . . . you can’t do campaigning on county time or use county funds or use the fax or copying machines for political purposes,” he said. “And here I am helping . . . find files for Brent who is digging up dirt on Tony. It made me sick to my stomach.”

Stafford said the episode led him to endorse Rackauckus and donate $75 to his campaign.

Romney said he had sought the files as part of his effort to check the accuracy of the three-strikes report that is generated monthly in the office.

Romney said he was concerned that the report, which he designed, might have errors because it showed substantially more than half of the three-strike cases in Orange County were being settled for less than 25 years to life.

Because Rackauckus is running for district attorney, Romney said, it was human nature that Romney would be drawn to examine his cases. The same ratio, he found, applied to them.

“I was trying to see if these reports were accurate,” he said, “and because Tony Rackauckus has been critical of our office, I had an interest in his cases. That is just human nature. My motivation was to see if the report was accurate.”

Rackauckus said the list appeared to target him and to “be a list of cases that Romney thinks he will be able to use to paint the picture he wants to paint.”

Wade called the allegation by Stafford “very serious,” adding, “I am not going to say anything more until the facts are much clearer.”

Supervisor Todd Spitzer urged Capizzi to investigate.

Capizzi said he had received no complaint and said he is “always skeptical” of charges made in the press for apparent political gain.