Councilmember Huizar Comes Under Fire in CD14

"Don't dump on me!" is probably the message Los Angeles Councilmember Jose Huizar is sending as the embattled incumbent is coming under fire for "List-Gate," a scandal that broke last week on the Mayor Sam Blog and the LA Times.

Huizar's main opponent, Rudy Martinez, must be overjoyed at the dual scandals of List-Gate, where Huizar allegedly maintained graded lists of supporters, and CLARTS-Gate, a scandal surrounding alleged misuse of funds.

The March 8, 2011 election is drawing close and Huizar is looking vulnerable. It's rare, but not unprecedented for an incumbent to be unseated, but Huizar could be using the scandals to shake loose that all important IE from organized labor. Watch, wait and see....

Anti Trutanich Blog Mocks Carmen The Clown

While Googling "Trutanich" to research some more reasons to award Carmen "The Clown" Trutanich the Political Pantload of the Year Award, we came across a site apparently dedicated to denigrating Trutanich.

TRU is False takes aim at the Clown on a variety of topics, most recently his use of "operatives" to deliver a threat to City Hall that the results of their messing with his budget will be that he will not prosecute crimes. It's an old stunt, last used to effect by the late Sheriff Sherman Block.

According to TRU is False, Trutanich choose not to deliver the threat personally because he made such a fool of himself last time he addressed the Council. That, of course, was over the Michael Jackson memorial, where Carmen The Clown told the City leaders that he had found "criminal aspects" to AEG's memorial to Michael Jackson. Ultimately, Trutanich failed to deliver on his threat to prosecute, and the case "went away" after some money was paid to the City, according to the TRU is False blog.

But TRU is False is not the only blog with an unashamed dislike for the "People's Liar." The Street-Hassle blog, today calls out Trutanich for botching the Medical Marijuana Ordinance. Street-Hassle is edited by "Mulholland Terrace," the erudite scribe who can claim bragging rights for being the first to call Trutanich "Carmen The Clown" as long ago as 2009 when 'MT' blogged at the Griffith Park Wayist. Interestingly, MT was also the target of a Clown threat, this one penned by the Clown's "Special Assistant" Jane Usher who was earning her keep defending the honor of the Clown while he was unwell.

Despite the fact that Trutanich's threats seem to do nothing but bring ridicule on him and his office, the Clown continues to threaten and grandstand at any given opportunity.

It is exceedingly rare that the Los Angeles City Council gets anything right, but in cutting his budget and denying him Grand Jury powers, they seem to be on the right track. Giving Trutanich his own police force and a Grand Jury would give Trutanich the power to make the McCarthy era seem like a walk in the park. By the way, a good definition of McCarthyism is "the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence." The shoe does seem to fit.

Trutanich's Run for DA Strains Relationships

Once joined at the hip, the dynamic duo of Cooley & Trutanich is said to be over.

Speculation in the LA Times and elsewhere that Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich will run for District Attorney in 2012 is said to have destroyed the close relationship between Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley and Trutanich.

Cooley had campaigned heavily to help Trutanich win the 2009 City Attorney election and considered Trutanich a good candidate for City Hall. However, when Cooley ran for Attorney General in the November 2010 mid terms, Cooley did not consider Trutanich as a possible replacement.

Trutanich had publicly promised not to run for District Attorney until at least the completion of his first term (2013), and perhaps the only way that Trutanich could possibly have been released from that promise would be if Cooley had won the AG race, and then be asked, either by Cooley or the Board of Supervisors, to fill the role of DA on an interim basis for the balance of Cooley's term.

That became a moot point when Cooley conceded the AG race after narrowly losing to Kamala Harris. However, Trutanich's ambition to become "The DA" and thus avoid the growing backlash of discontentment with his imperious leadership of the City Attorney's Office, has not been diminished.

Trutanich must have felt slighted when Cooley told the press that he believed Trutanich still had a job to finish at the City Attorney's Office, and could not run. Cooley also mentioned Assistant District Attorney Jackie Lacey and Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson as "well qualified" for the job, implying that Trutanich was unfit to handle the responsibility of managing over 1,000 attorneys, 2,000 support staff, and 260 investigators. Many would agree with Cooley.

It is understood that Jackson has retained John Thomas as campaign manager, however the rumor mill has it that when Lacey sought the services of John Shallman, who has long worked on campaigns for Cooley and more recently at Cooley's request for Trutanich's City Attorney bid, Shallman indicated that he was committed to Trutanich.

Campaign manager John Shallman is said to be already committed to
Carmen Trutanich's campaign to run for District Attorney in 2012.

Shallman will have his hands full fielding Trutanich for DA. Apart from overcoming the lack of support from Cooley, Shallman will somehow have to explain how anyone can trust the word of Trutanich when he is openly reneging on a sworn promise to fulfill a full first term as City Attorney and to seek a second term. It seems that Trutanich will have to abandon his 2009 motto "I'm a prosecutor, not a politician," when he officially announces the worst kept secret in LA.