The Orange County Register newspaper announced its endorsement of District Attorney Todd Spitzer for reelection. Spitzer has served  multiple community roles as assemblyman, assistant district attorney, county supervisor and currently as district attorney. The Register endorsed him when he first ran in 2018, and now is backing his re-election.

His opponent in the June 7 primary election is Pete Hardin, a “soft on crime” lawyer in the fashion of Los Angeles DA George Gascon, whose policies of releasing criminals have sent crime soaring there. The Spitzer-Hardin contest is part of a national theme of needing to fight the crime wave of the last two years.

Spitzer, the paper said, “zeroes in on fighting serious crime — while still being open to efforts that better promote justice…. Spitzer obviously has excesses and peccadilloes, and we’ll continue to keep watch on some ongoing controversies, but he’s done a solid job as DA. There’s no serious case for replacing him with an unknown alternative.” And, “He’s arguably sought a third way (between the progressives and Neanderthals) that zeroes in on fighting serious crime — while still being open to efforts that better promote justice.”

Hardin has tried to portray Spitzer as being insensitive on racial issues. But the Register pointed out, “He has never shown a shred of racism in his career.” The attack on him “is preposterous and highlights a lack of substantive complaints against him.”

In 2018, the paper endorsed Spitzer because of his promise to clean up the office from the scandals and charges of incompetence under longtime DA Tony Rackauckas. In the past four years, it noted, Spitzer “has done a solid job as DA.”