Trutanich Launches Campaign For DA

City Attorney Carmen 'the Clown' Trutanich has launched his campaign to become District Attorney, code named 'TRU in 12.'

The campaign is dressed up as a plea from Sheriff Lee Baca to sign a petition at the DraftTrutanich4DA.com website to try to 'persuade' the Clown to run for DA. This gets a major Political BS Threat Alert on our warning system.

Political Pantloads received the email plea from Sheriff Lee Baca
at 6PM today, as part of an email blast.

The use of Sheriff Baca to pretend to be making a plea to try to persuade Trutanich to go back on his sworn promise to serve a full first term as City Attorney, is a crass and facile attempt to get Trutanich off the hook from that promise.

Expect Trutanich feign shock and surprise and say something banal like "Aw shucks, well I guess I just have no choice but to run for DA if THE SHERIFF tell me to, ha ha ha." followed by "I am humbled an honored blah blah blah."

Frankly, we would have expected Trutanich's campaign strategist John Shallman, to come up with something better, but he can only work with the material he's got and has to counter the hailstorm of criticism and accusations of being a liar and a career politician that the opponents will use relentlessly.

Trutanich's announcement is no surprise, the Clown more or less leaked it last week at a luncheon for the Studio City Chamber of Commerce when he said he was looking for a storefront on Ventura Blvd. for his DA campaign HQ - likely to be the same Mort Allen owned pole-dancing studio that the Clown used for his TRU '09 City Attorney Campaign.

So what will the TRU in 12 campaign look like? Here's our suggestion:

Our prediction of the likely themes in the 'TRU in 12' campaign; strong law and order
mixed with self-deprecating humor over his major missteps. 

As well as having Sheriff Baca endorsing him, Trutanich is rumored to have secured the endorsement of  Los Angeles Councilmember Paul Krekorian, who has made no secret of his interest in taking out Trutanich. In fact, expect to see the entire City Council endorsing Trutanich - they are so keen to get him out of City Hall.

One endorsement that Trutanich is unlikely to get will be that of Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, who may just be persuaded to abandon his retirement plans to prevent Trutanich from wreaking havoc at the DA's Office.

One thing's for sure, it's going to be interesting.

Troubled Times for Trutanich?

Los Angeles City Attorney, Carmen "the Clown" Trutanich appears to be loosing supporters faster than the City is loosing money.

The Los Angeles Dragnet Blog, historically supportive of Trutanich, seems to have joined the rest of the political commentators in no longer taking everything the City Attorney currently known as "the Clown" does at face value.

The Dragnet's report on Kevin James' announcement of his mayoral candidacy was interesting not so much for reportage of the right-wing talk show hosts campaign promises, but rather, for the speculation as to why Trutanich stayed away from an event which was not only on his doorstep, but but attended by his alleged "buddy" Steve Cooley. Read the Dragnet account of Trutanich's troubled times, they may have connected some dots.

Speaking of dots, Trutanich's former Special Assistant and alleged attack dog, cockney Brit David Berger, was also in attendance for Kevin James's photo op, and published this report of the Kevin James event, notably not mentioning the absence of Trutanich nor speculating that the City Attorney may be running shy of the media these days. Fishbowl LA yesterday accused the Trutanich administration of hiding a search tool from the City Attorney website which used to allow for searches of contracts. What could it be that Trutanich doesn't want us to see.....

Trutanich: "I am not a thug"

President Nixon (left) and City Attorney Trutanich (right)
Would you buy a used car from either of them?

Before backing down from his untenable prosecution of student political protesters, Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen "Nuch" Trutanich (aka "Clown") made a last gasp effort to "Nuch" LA Weekly reporter Gene Maddaus over a Goodfellas style lunch at Ciro's Mexican restaurant.

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."

Carmen Trutanich Makes Fool Of Himself - Again

Excellent report at the Los Angeles Dragnet, of Carmen the Clown Trutanich's "Kayne West" moment when he disrupted the South East District Bar Association awards dinner on Saturday, January 29, 2011.

Apparently Carmen the Clown must have felt slighted because he was not named on the award program, was not seated at a VIP table, and was not invited to speak.

The Clown nevertheless interrupted a presentation being given to Deputy District Attorney Mario Trujillo for being SEDBA's "Attorney of the Year" and bullied his way to the podium, grabbed the mic and proceeded to make an even bigger fool of himself.

Here's the report from LA Dragnet:

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Carmen "the Clown" Trutanich (Photo Credit: LA Dragnet & TRU is False)

Cooley was just about to present Trujillo with his award; to the shock of the audience City Attorney Carmen Trutanich interrupted the proceedings.

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" screamed Trutanich as he forged his way to the podium and grabbed center stage. Trutanich, who had arrived at the awards dinner late and was not listed as a speaker, had been confined to a table in the far corner of the room as the capacity crowd were already seated. He had been observed craning his neck around the room, perhaps looking for a better seating position.

Suddenly Trutanich was on his feet armed with an fistful of calligraphic scrolls, and was not going to be stopped. In what appeared to many as something of a "Kayne West - Taylor Swift" moment, Trutanich proceeded to give his own impromptu speech recognizing the achievements of not only Mario Trujillo, but the other honorees who had not yet even been introduced.

Judging by reports of the audience's reaction, this was not a welcome interruption, and Trutanich's excuse that he had interrupt because he had leave early to catch a plane to DC, was singularly unimpressive. He could have been flying to Idaho for all anyone seemed to care, "and the sooner the better" was how one of the guests summed up this fiasco.

As Trutanich left the room, perhaps DC bound, perhaps not, few had any doubts as to Trutanich's true motive, and if he had previously enjoyed the support of the South East District Bar Association, those days now appear to be over.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Some are speculating that the once popular City Attorney felt the need to make a public appearance with Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley as rumors are rife that the pair are not on speaking terms. Indeed, the LA Weekly yesterday reported that the Clown felt forced to "break the rules" at a San Pedro eatery to make a public announcement - perhaps intended to assure his support base that he's still an important person and Cooley is his BFF.

Trutanich swept into Los Angeles City Hall on the crest of a wave of "I'm a prosecutor not a politician"propaganda. His recent antics and abysmal failure over the Michael Jackson 'criminal aspects' debacle, leave little doubt that he is very much a politician, and not so much a prosecutor.

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.