The day after the news show “60 Minutes” turned a national spotlight on local prosecutors’ misuse of jailhouse informants, an Orange County supervisor formally asked U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to take over the district attorney’s office.

In a two-page letter that outlines numerous alleged and real problems, County Supervisor Todd Spitzer — a long-time political opponent of District Attorney Tony Rackauckas — said the misconduct has reached “critical proportions.”

“Immediate action is necessary in order to prevent further damage by our elected DA and (to) reverse eroding confidence in our judicial system,” Spitzer wrote on his office letterhead. “The depth, denial and cover-up of serious misconduct threatens the foundation of our criminal justice system.”

Spitzer’s plea came a day after Rackauckas told “60 Minutes” that there is no informant program in Orange County jails — something that several local judges and an appeals court have ruled in fact does exist. On the same program, Rackauckas said that anybody guilty of the misdeeds he’s accused of should “be in jail.” The U.S. Department of Justice already is investigating local prosecutors and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, an investigation that could end with federal officials in control of both departments, though Sessions’ has said publicly that he’d like the Justice Dept. to “pull back” from monitoring local law enforcement. An official with the department said Monday that the agency has the letter but isn’t talking about it.

Rackauckas’ office noted that Spitzer is expecting to run for District Attorney in 2018, and suggested that the letter is politically motivated. The office also questioned Spitzer’s judgment, pointing to 2015 incident in which Spitzer detained a fellow restaurant patron he deemed threatening.The man detained by Spitzer was released by sheriff’s deputies after the incident and no charges were filed.

“It is unfortunate that Todd Spitzer is using his current position as a County Supervisor to campaign for the office of the District Attorney, a position he so desperately covets. Meanwhile, (Spitzer) is slandering prosecutors and OCDA personnel with his false allegations in an effort to fuel his ambition and create the appearance of credibility,” said Michelle Van Der Linden, district attorney spokesperson. Related Articles Did Orange County Sheriff’s Department shred jailhouse informant documents? Hearing focuses on that question

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“Perhaps his latest political rant is intended to divert the public’s attention from the loss of his recent lawsuit regarding his self-incriminating manifesto detailing the episode in which he handcuffed an evangelist in a fast food restaurant and/or the pending litigation from a former employee outlining his “raging temper” and “practice of governing his office through means of fear and aggression.”

“The OCDA fully anticipates Supervisor Spitzer will continue to abuse his position and the ridiculous allegations will continue as we draw closer to the election.”

Spitzer responded that the allegations are not his, but that of Rackauckas’ chief investigator and the courts.

“It saddens me to realize that Rackauckas believes that letting murderers go free by botching cases and authorizing an illegal snitch program is simply “politicking,” he said.

Spitzer stresses in his letter that he is speaking only for himself and not for the Board of Supervisors. No other supervisors signed the letter and none contacted would comment about Spitzer’s request.

National attention on Orange County’s plight has grown over the years, culminating with the “60 Minutes” segment that broadcast the debacle into millions of homes.

On Sunday, Rackauckas told a national television audience that informants lie, despite his office’s widespread use of them. He also denied the systemic misuse of jailhouse informants, although judges on the local and appellate benches have found it to be true.

“So the public defender made a lot of allegations, of all kinds of criminal conduct, of terrible things. And believe me– and if those things were true — we should be in jail, frankly; if those things were true, that would be very bad,” Rackauckas told “60 Minutes.”

A panel formed by Rackauckas to look into the allegations concluded that his office was “a ship without a rudder.” But Rackauckas told a national audience Sunday that the panel actually felt differently when approached individually.

Upset by the constant denials, Spitzer also is asking federal investigators to widen their probe and include recent allegations by the office’s top investigator that Rackauckas quashed investigations into the political activities of his friends and allowed his chief of staff to campaign on county property.

Spitzer also notes that Rackauckas hired an outside attorney without county permission to defend a prosecutor threatened with disbarment. And, he said, a judge recently dismissed a first-degree murder charge against a former construction worker because of misconduct by the prosecutor. The prosecutor did not disclose that a California Highway Patrol supervisor altered a report and then shredded the original.

Spitzer’s letter comes on the eve of a hearing to determine whether the Orange County Sheriff’s Department destroyed informant-related documents ordered by a judge four years ago.

The hearing begins Tuesday morning before Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals, the same judge who removed the Orange County District Attorney’s Office from the penalty trial of mass murderer Scott Dekraai. Two years ago, Dekraai pleaded guilty to killing eight and injuring one in a shooting rampage at a Seal Beach salon in 2011.

Goethals has said he is so frustrated by what he sees as the lack of cooperation by Sheriff Sandra Hutchens in providing documents that he’s now willing to drop the death penalty against Dekraai, depending on what he finds during the hearing.

For one thing, the judge is bothered by a 5 1/2-month gap in secret documents kept by jail deputies that describe the long-time use of jailhouse informants. The secret notes also end in 2013 with a reference to starting a new set, but the department has not been able to locate that second set, angering Goethals.

Sheriff Hutchens is among the witnesses who are expected to be called to testify during the multi-day hearing that will essentially put the sheriff’s department and the district attorney’s office on trial.