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| President Nixon (left) and City Attorney Trutanich (right) Would you buy a used car from either of them? |
It failed, and if there's one thing Trutanich cannot handle, it's failure. So to avoid further humiliation, Trutanich ordered his deputies to drop the charges against the student protesters.
"I am not a thug" Trutanich told Maddaus who seemed to be the first reporter not to be "Nuched" - that's the word that best describes the rather facile way Trutanich seeks to win over those who don't readily drink his own particular brand of Koolaide. First, he arranges to meet you in unassuming surroundings - Ciro's is a perfect setting. It shows he's a 'man of the people' and of humble and ordinary tastes (If you're a fundraiser, you'll meet at the Jonathan Club, but for a reporter it's Ciro's).
Then there will be a few anecdotal stories about his allegedly humble origins. One such story was how he was so broke raising a family that he could not afford to buy a new battery for his car. Every morning he had to push the car to get it rolling before jumping in, sticking it in gear, starting the engine and driving off to work at the DA's Office. The story is designed to sell the image of a man of humble origins; a regular guy. Trutanich seems to have stopped using the car story after a family member blurted out that the car in question was a Porsche 911 Carrera.
Next up is a teary-eyed, choked-speech line like "I love my job and I'm humbled by the responsibility the voters have given me," and/or "I'm just trying to do the right thing," to justify his latest jack-boot style policy; like reneging on his agreement that the City Controller had the power to audit City departments, or turning his back on the medical marijuana community who were fooled into supporting him before he knifed them in the back, or, threatening to arrest Council Member Jan Perry and AEG boss Tim Leiweke over billboards at LA Live, or throwing a businessman in jail on a Friday night on $1M bail for a misdemeanor, or the straw that broke the camel's back; threatening student protesters with a year in jail.
As the victim of the "Nuch" desperately tries to turn the meeting back to the topic at hand, Trutanich will then ramble on and on, jumping from topic to topic - it's a strategy known as "distract and disarm," and is skillfully delivered so that the victim either forgets the question he wanted to ask, or is so bamboozled by the incoherent off-topic drivel that he just gives up.
Finally, Trutanich delivers the coupe de grace; the male bonding thing. You'll get grabbed with a bear hug as he slaps your back. It's just like a scene from the Godfather when Michael Corleone hugs his brother Fredo, tells him "Fredo you're my brother and I love you" before having Fredo shot in the back of the head and unceremoniously dumped into Lake Tahoe. While Trutanich has you in that embrace, the hand that slaps your back is feeling for the soft spot to plunge the knife. As he tells you "We'll be friends for life" his eyes are as cold as shark's and almost as lethal. He smiles, says "I love you man," because you've been "Nuched."
It seemed to have worked with LA Times columnist Steve Lopez, who was won over for a while after being "Nuched" at a cigar store first, and then invited to be a guinea pig test driver to see the effects of marijuana while driving a police car on a private track. "How can you not like a guy who asks you to get high and drive a police car?" joked Lopez, but Lopez very quickly got himself "un-Nuched" when Lopez balked at a year in jail for the student protesters.
Another previously "Nuched" victim was KABC talk radio host Peter Tilden. Tilden was "Nuched" when he, too, was invited to spliff-up, get high, and drive a cop car with Lopez. Like Lopez, Tilden quickly got "un-Nuched" during a recent interview with Trutanich over the student protesters.
So kuddos to LA Weekly's Gene Maddaus for resisting the "Nuch" and reporting on the reality of life in the warped world of Carmen Trutanich. Oh, and Gene, why don't you give Trutanich's "buddy" District Attorney Steve Cooley a call and find out if they really are still buddies like Trutanich says? Apparently the pair haven't spoken since December 15, 2010. It could be that Steve Cooley also got himself "un-Nuched."
9 comments:
Great picture. What a pair of pantloads!
What's a pantload? Seems like a playground expression.
Pantload? It's basically an insult designed to express utter derision and contempt for assholes generally, but it's particularly apt for certain politicians.
oh, so then it's fair to say David Berger is a Pantload. Love it.
David Berger: "I am not a dork. I'm a low class cockney Brit still smarting over losing my campaign for City Attorney, and then being summarily fired when it was discovered all I did was blog all day.
Now, I think I'm Arianna Huffington.
Isn't interesting to read the responses by Trutanich's folks; childish attacks on a former colleague and supporter. Still, I suppose it's not altogether surprising, the wheels are well and TRUely coming off the Trutanich wagon with the Chief Deputy having to explain to a bewildered reporter that Trutanich "is actually an intellectual."
The response to insurgent criticism is a witch hunt and vilification, sure signs of a failing regime - much like we're seeing in the middle east at the moment.
Keep up the good work at outing all the dirty tricks this thug is pulling, and take a look at Council File 10-0085 on After the Fact Penalties. Once you read it you'll see that Trutuanich is trying to pull a fast one on the Council and the homeowners of LA.
2;24 - Agree totally. The Trutanich interview with Gene Maddaus could just as easily have been an interview with Libya's Komander Kadaffi.
The question I have is does Trutanich really think there are people out there who believe his is their savior in the same way as tyrants like Kadaffi and Castro do?
And you are also right about the After the fact penalties law that Trutanich is trying to get passed. Check this link to the City Clerk's office:
http://cityclerk.lacity.org/lacityclerkconnect/index.cfm?fa=ccfi.viewrecord&cfnumber=10-0085
In a nutshell, Trutanich is trying to:
1) Get his attorneys to be judges
2) Fine Los Angelenos for any violation of the municipal code as long as it's non-violent
3) Take control of the fine money
4) Use the fine money to pay his costs of running the program before turning over whatever is left to the General Fund, and
5) get subpoena powers for his judges
It's a nice move by Trutanich, he cons the council into thinking they're going to solve the city's budget problems by fining homeowners with untidy yards or noisy dogs, and then he can also rape the business community with numerous fines for petty building and safety code violations.
The city thinks it gets the cash, but most of it goes to Trutanich - like the fines he's getting from the illegal billboards.
Best of all, Trutanich gets to have the subpoena power that he wanted for his Grand Jury.
When will Los Angeles wake up to this monster?
3:44PM - what are you talking about? The motion you cite was initiated by Paul Koretz and seconded by Bernard Parks.
They are trying to save the county money and set up a program that's used by cities all over the state.
It's a great idea and Paul Koretz should be commended for pushing innovative ideas that make sense.
3:56pm - Yes it's a great idea. The problem is that Trutanich has hijacked Koretz's idea and turned it into a program that gives him way too much power.
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