Attorney General Won’t Investigate Capizzi

The state attorney general has rejected a congressman’s allegations that the Orange County district attorney’s office used blackmail in an attempt to muscle a Superior Court judge out of the highly-charged campaign fraud case against Assemblyman Scott Baugh.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) argued that county prosecutors attempted to pressure Superior Court Judge James L. Smith to step down in retaliation for rulings that helped Baugh.

But in a terse one-paragraph letter to the congressman, Deputy Atty. Gen. James D. Dutton said a review found “no cause” for launching a full-scale investigation and that the matter would be dropped.

“We looked at it from the standpoint of was there any crime that occurred [by the district attorney] or did it appear that further investigation might reveal evidence of a crime,” said Gary W. Schons, senior assistant attorney general. “Our conclusion was no on both.”

Schons also said that state prosecutors have decided to oppose efforts by Baugh’s defense team to have Dist. Atty. Michael Capizzi disqualified from prosecuting his case and allow it to be handled by the attorney general’s office. That matter is scheduled for a hearing in Orange County Superior Court later this month.

“I think our decision could have some weight at the hearing,” Schons said. “We argue that it should.”

Rohrabacher declined comment and Smith was unavailable on Monday. Baugh, however, said the attorney general was ducking a politically difficult decision by choosing not to go after Capizzi or take over the prosecution.

Baugh is charged with election wrongdoing along with Rhonda Carmony, Rohrabacher’s campaign manager and fiance.

“I think the real story here is that the attorney general finds these cases a little too hot to handle and doesn’t want them,” Baugh said.

Capizzi, meanwhile, said the attorney general’s decision vindicated his office and undermines criticism by Baugh and others.

“It holds up their intemperate diatribe for what it is,” Capizzi said. “They’ve tried to adopt the position that the best defense is an offense. But it isn’t effective. It’s offensive.”

Baugh is charged with multiple misdemeanors and felonies stemming from his November 1995 campaign to replace ousted Assemblywoman Doris Allen, the Cypress Republican recalled during the same election. He is accused of misreporting thousands of dollars in campaign funds.

Last September, Smith tossed out most of the charges against Baugh, but they were later refiled by the district attorney. Two weeks later, Smith met in his chambers with a pair of Capizzi’s deputies who raised the issue of a potential conflict the judge might have in the case.

A dozen years earlier, Smith and his wife were questioned as part of a broad investigation into corruption at the Orange Unified School District that ended in the resignation of school trustees and charges against several employees.

Smith and his wife, who worked at the district, had a brand-new air conditioner unit turn up one day at their house. It was later discovered to have been stolen.

Though the Smiths were cleared of wrongdoing in the case, investigators noted that the judge had failed to report the air conditioner as a gift on his annual financial disclosure form, which is required of all officials holding public office. But prosecutors didn’t file charges.

During legal motions before Carmony’s trial, defense attorneys asked to review the district attorney’s records on political corruption cases over the last decade. Prodded by the defense plea, Capizzi’s team began reviewing records of past political cases and came across the matter involving Smith.

Capizzi said it was “absolutely essential” that his prosecutors revealed the case to Smith and defense attorneys because of the potential conflict.

“If we hadn’t, we’d have been accused of hiding the ball.” But in a Jan. 4 letter to the state attorney general, Rohrabacher claimed that Capizzi “threatened to expose an embarrassing personal matter . . . unless Judge Smith recused himself.”

The congressman also said that the “retaliatory blackmail” came after Smith blasted prosecutors in the case and threw out most of the charges against Baugh.

“This isn’t blackmail,” Capizzi said. “This is a defendant’s fiance holding a press conference to make scurrilous and libelous allegations.”