Carmen Trutanich Reels 'Em In At San Pedro Fish Lunch

By Gene Maddaus Mon., Jan. 31 2011 at 6:36 AM

Carmen Trutanich (center) presses the flesh in San Pedro.

The Dalmatian-American Club of San Pedro has a strict rule against political speeches at its fish lunches. So it was a bit surprising last Friday when L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich was invited up to the podium to say a few words.

"I guess we're breaking the rules," he said, seeming at a rare loss for words. "Guys, I love San Pedro."

Trutanich spent a lot of Fridays at the fish lunches during his successful run for city attorney in 2009. At last Friday's event, he shook hands like he was running for office again.

In an interview afterward, Trutanich talked his way around the 2012 D.A.'s race and his rift with D.A. Steve Cooley, which he says does not exist.

"He's my buddy," he said. "Cooley and I will be friends forever. I love him. He's like a brother to me."

A marlin is mounted on the wall of the Dalmatian-American Club of San Pedro

Perhaps, but there's been a bit of sibling rivalry lately. If Cooley retires, Trutanich would be a strong candidate to replace him. But Cooley is said to favor his lieutenant, Jackie Lacey, and believes Trutanich should stay in the city attorney's office.

Trutanich is 59, and if he passes up this chance to run for D.A., he probably won't get another one. So he's telling supporters that he'll run if Cooley retires.

But he is playing coy in public. (His campaign slogan might as well be "D.A.: Who me?")

"I haven't considered it," he said with a straight face. "I got plenty of dragons to fight, you included."

If you listened to Trutanich, you'd think Cooley was raring to go for a fourth term.

"I just don't think he's gonna quit," he said.

He may be the only person who thinks that, but who knows. At this point, Cooley may have to run just to keep Trutanich out of his chair.

Tags:

Carmen Trutanich, Dalmatian-American Club, district attorney, fish lunch, San Pedro, Steve Cooley

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John

Interesting that San Pedro agreed to break the rules for their boy Carmen Trutanich. The locals must sense that their boy is under attack from the rest of Los Angeles who don't seem quite as taken with Trutanich's bare knuckle street fighter tactics anymore. Especially now that more and more ugly facts seem to be coming out about their boy - like the way Trutanich tried to mislead voters about Tom Griego, or the non-existent 'criminal aspects' to the Michael Jackson memorial, or foolish attempt to get his own Grand Jury to try to find some of those 'criminal aspects' like in the McCarthy era, or the ... oh the list goes on and on, but you get the point. For someone who claimed he was not a politician, Trutanich has been playing politics from day one, and largely getting a pass. Those days are over, and his willingness to ignore his sworn promise to serve a full first term as City Attorney is probably the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back for most people. His pathetic gate-crashing gaffe at the South East Bar dinner on Saturday night shows just how desperate this egocentric blowhard really is.

Flora

The rift between Cooley and Trutanich was obvious on Saturday night when Trutanich was an uninvited (and unwanted) speaker at an awards dinner where Cooley was presenting Mario Trujillo with the SEDBA "Attorney of the Year" award. Trutanich made a fool of himself when he forced his way onto the podium and grabbed the mic and garbled his own "award" speech. If looks could kill, Cooley would be in cuffs.

Truth & Justice

If you need any proof of the rift between Trutanich and Cooley, you should read the account of what happened when Trutanich gate-crashed the South East District Bar Association honors dinner at http://losangelesdragnet.blogs...

Trutanich made a complete fool of himself when he interrupted an awards presentation to give his own, badly delivered speech, and managed to annoy the entire crowd with his clownish antics. Cooley had nothing nice to say about his "buddy"