Given we know Todd Spitzer is a prolific multitask enthusiast, it's not surprising that the prominent but office-less politician couldn't just focus on his pending 2012 race for Third District supervisor.
Even while he's actively campaigning against fellow Orange County Republican Chuck DeVore for a county Board of Supervisor's seat, the 50-year-old Spitzer is seeking his 20th known job.
He has filed an application to become a member of the Orange County Sheriff's Department (OCSD).
]
According to OCSD spokesman Jim Amormino, Spitzer has requested to become a reserve
sheriff's deputy and is presently undergoing a background check.
Amormino
told me that the former—take a deep breath here, seriously–English
teacher, state Assemblyman, county supervisor, LAPD reserve cop,
assistant district attorney, school board trustee, Little League coach,
campaign manager for California's Marsy's Law, director at the Orange
County Fire Authority, KFI-AM radio host . . . that's enough for now–is
getting close to winning the new job.
“I'd say he's on the
50-yard line in the process,” said Amormino. “If he passes the
background check, he'll then have to pass other tests–physical,
psychological.”
It will be interesting if Spitzer passes all the
tests because his critics have long claimed that he took stress-related
leave in the past and hasn't performed well in psychological tests. He
has repeatedly called such claims the devious machinations of his
political opponents. Indeed, more than half a decade ago, Spitzer gave
me access to his county personnel file to demonstrate the veracity of
his stance.
(Last year, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas fired Spitzer from a top-ranking post in his office after citing reoccurring maturity and ego issues. Spitzer responded by claiming Rackauckas is corrupt and a puppet to Mike and Susan Kang Schroeder, his two closest advisers. Rumors continue to swirl around local political circles that Spitzer really wants to fight the female Schroeder for the top DA slot when Rackauckas retires.)
Whatever the truth, it can't hurt Spitzer's chances that among his political allies is Sheriff Sandra Hutchens. The sheriff and Spitzer share the same political consultant, Dave Gilliard.
The play to add unpaid but gun-toting OCSD reserve deputy as another one his titles isn't without political implications.
In
his race against DeVore, Spitzer–who, in a prior stint as a county supervisor, championed controversial pro-public employee union pension perks–would be able to call himself an active member of law enforcement on the ballot, a potentially powerful
designation in Orange County's suburban neighborhoods.
Like Spitzer, DeVore is a former state Assemblyman.
–R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly
CNN-featured investigative reporter R. Scott Moxley has won Journalist of the Year honors at the Los Angeles Press Club; been named Distinguished Journalist of the Year by the LA Society of Professional Journalists; obtained one of the last exclusive prison interviews with Charles Manson disciple Susan Atkins; won inclusion in Jeffrey Toobin’s The Best American Crime Reporting for his coverage of a white supremacist’s senseless murder of a beloved Vietnamese refugee; launched multi-year probes that resulted in the FBI arrests and convictions of the top three ranking members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department; and gained praise from New York Times Magazine writers for his “herculean job” exposing entrenched Southern California law enforcement corruption.