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Where was the District Attorney?
That’s the question increasingly heard when it comes to political investigations across OC.
Calls are growing for DA Todd Spitzer to look into the issues raised by a new series of lawsuits between county leaders and two nonprofits that county staff alleges fraudulently took over $13 million in federal pandemic funds.
[Read: Orange County Sues County Supervisor’s Daughter and Nonprofit Over Missing COVID Money]
A lawyer for one of the nonprofits has denied that claim, saying that while the nonprofit failed to keep close track of the funds, it all went toward its intended purpose of feeding the elderly.
The controversy is shedding more light than ever on how the County of Orange disbursed more than $200 million in federal COVID relief funds – something Voice of OC has been asking questions about since the process was first unveiled.
Spitzer has never prosecuted any elected officials for corruption or malfeasance even as other agencies have investigated cities under his jurisdiction like Anaheim, Santa Ana, Irvine and Huntington Beach, some of which ended with criminal charges filed by federal prosecutors.
Spitzer faced calls to jump into at least three investigations from local residents, but never filed charges against anyone.
Kimberly Edds, Spitzer’s spokesperson, declined to comment last week on if any investigation would be launched by the DA in response to county supervisor’s calls.
When he was elected in 2018, Spitzer campaigned on bringing a new age of transparency and accountability to the DA’s office, a message he reinforced at his inauguration in 2019.
“The DA’s going to call balls and strikes and the DA has no business being involved in political activity in this county,” Spitzer said in his 2019 inauguration. “Everybody in the county looks to the DA to be the person that’s making decisions about elections and public official conduct.”
Last week, Orange County Supervisors Katrina Foley and Vicente Sarmiento took Spitzer up on his word, asking him along with state and federal agencies to look into the Viet America Society, one of the nonprofits the county is suing, saying in a joint statement the issue needs all the eyes it can get.
Their statement opened with a call for Spitzer to get involved.
“Today, Orange County Supervisors Katrina Foley and Vicente Sarmiento released a statement strongly recommending the District Attorney investigate the unaccounted-for funds,” read the statement.
“We have no confidence that these organizations will ever produce proof of lawful expenditures or voluntarily return taxpayer funds,” the supervisors stated in a Aug. 14 news release.
In a subsequent interview with Voice of OC, Supervisor Sarmiento said that “if more is at play than mismanagement,” that a criminal prosecution could be in the cards.
“A criminal investigation may be warranted and should be pursued,” Sarmiento said.
In a lawsuit filed earlier this month, county lawyers allege leaders of the Viet America Society took over $10 million of county contracts and used them to purchase houses, a claim the nonprofit’s lawyer has denied, saying all the money went to feed the elderly.
‘’Defendants engaged in pervasive self-dealing, pocketing local and federal funds,” county lawyers wrote in the suit. “Defendants used these funds to finance lavish purchases that included real property and repairs and improvements on such property.”
On Monday night, county leaders also announced a second lawsuit against the nonprofit Hand to Hand Relief Organization, alleging they worked with the Viet America Society and also improperly took over $3 million from county funds to enrich themselves.
OC Supervisor Don Wagner said he trusted Spitzer to determine whether or not criminal charges were called for in this case and that it wasn’t up to him how the DA moved forward.
“He knows this is happening. Whether he’s investigating or not is for him to decide and for him to tell,” Wagner said. “It’s ultimately the DA’s call whether there’s anything here or whether this is worth investigating.”
A recent call by Congressman Lou Correa for federal investigations into Viet American Society made no mention of Spitzer at all.
It’s not the first big investigation Spitzer has been called to jump into without any public results.
In 2022, an affidavit revealed an FBI investigation into the city of Anaheim that later saw the former mayor plead guilty to lying to federal investigators about his plan to try to sell Angel Stadium to the Angels in exchange for $1 million in campaign support.
[Read: Ex-Anaheim Mayor Sidhu Agrees to Plead Guilty to Corruption Charges]
While Spitzer’s office did open an investigation into the Angel Stadium deal over a year and a half after the FBI affidavits dropped, no charges have been filed.
[Read: OC District Attorney Confirms Corruption Investigation in Anaheim]
That federal investigation also highlighted claims of attempted bribery in the city of Irvine by a former lobbyist, who pleaded guilty to attempted wire fraud in a settlement with the federal Department of Justice.
No charges were ever filed by Spitzer.
Last year, Santa Ana City Councilman Johnathan Hernandez filed a complaint to Spitzer claiming that Mayor Valerie Amezcua violated the state’s open meeting laws in securing the votes needed to oust the former police chief and city manager.
A year later, he said he’s never heard a word back from the DA.
[Read: Santana: Politicians in Santa Ana Don’t Want Residents To See Them Up Close]
A Voice of OC investigation last year found Spitzer doesn’t like to prosecute violations of the state’s open meeting laws, instead often recommending city and county leaders attend training on what they can and can’t talk about.
[Read: OC District Attorney Rarely Prosecutes Political Crimes]
In Huntington Beach, state auditors are currently reviewing a controversial legal settlement that handed over $5 million to the operators of an airshow along with revenue from thousands of public parking spaces, with some calling it a gift of public funds.
[Read: How Did a Huntington Beach Air Show Become Embroiled in Controversy and Politics?]
Huntington Beach City Attorney Michael Gates asked Councilwoman Natalie Moser, who disagreed with the deal, why she didn’t call Spitzer if she had concerns.
“You can pick up and call the DA,” Gates said.
Moser had a quick reply for why she never called Spitzer to investigate.
“Oh,” she quipped, “who just gave you a certificate honoring you?”
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.
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