Capizzi Usurping Voters’ Rights, Stanton Defense Says

Orange County Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi is trying to wrest control from voters by pursuing charges that would force Supervisor Roger R. Stanton from office, according to a defense motion filed on Stanton’s behalf.

The motion asks Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge John W. Ouderkirk to dismiss an indictment brought by the Orange County Grand Jury. The indictment accuses Stanton of civil misconduct for allegedly failing to raise questions about conduct that helped cause Orange County to go bankrupt in December 1994.

Stanton could be forced from office if the allegations are found to be true.

The defense motion says that only the voters should decide which elected officials stay or go, and it points out that an attempt to recall Stanton after Orange County went bankrupt failed.

“The only apparent limit to the exercise of this power is the district attorney’s office’s own perception of who is doing an adequate job and who is not,” reads the motion. “It is a thinly veiled platform for a pandering politician, but it is inappropriate as the legal standard in a constitutionally sensitive and democratic system.”

Stanton was one of five supervisors in office when a risky investment strategy forged by former Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron lost $1.64 billion. But only Stanton and fellow Supervisor William G. Steiner have been accused of misconduct by the grand jury. Both have denied wrongdoing.

Two of the other supervisors left office when their terms expired, shortly after the bankruptcy, and a third resigned.

A hearing on the request for a dismissal of the indictment is scheduled for March 15. Defense attorney Wylie A. Aitken and Capizzi were unavailable for comment late Tuesday.