Carmen Trutanich Blasts Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's Move To Strip His Powers

smearone

Hahaha! Lame ass clown is getting it from all sides. That's what happens when people finally wake up and smell the douchness.

john.schwada

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Actually, Dragnet, the LA Weekly offered NO PROOF - nor did it argue - in the BODY of its story that Trutanich was trying to protect "his" power. As for the headline - it was probably another example of careless editing. Dragnet, read the story - not your delusions.

BTW: It is notable that a very narrowly-constructed proposal to trim the City Attorney's duties regarding the drafting of City Council legislation was postponed Wednesday. During that debate a half-dozen councilmembers publicly acknowledged that the city attorney's office has done an excellent job of dealing with issues under Trutanich given the serious cutbacks to his staff. It is not debatable that Trutanich has done more with less resources. He's protected the city from $235 million in civil liability cases; he's collected at least four times as much in penalties from those violating consumer and environmental protection laws than his predecessor; he's tripled the collections of overdue bills and taxes owed the city; and he's cut the city's cost for using outside attorneys by half. All this even though he's lost 175 personnel. The record is clear. And it's clear - as I previously pointed out - that Trutanich has established himself as an independent legal adviser who is unafraid to tackle issues that occasionally annoy City Hall's insiders.

losangelesdragnet

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@john.schwada The LA Weekly has it right - Trutanich is trying to protect what little power he has left. It is laughable to suggest the is 'trying to protect the institution of the city attorney,' if he was so interested perhaps you can explain why he was so keen to give up that task and run for District Attorney? His promises and commitments to the voters of LA meant nothing when he was consumed with his egocentric maniacal bid to DA.

I do agree with you, however, that the Spring Street Gang are out to strip the city attorney's office of its most critical function; being an independent city attorney not beholden to the mayor or the council. Where we disagree, I am sure, is that it was Trutanich's maniacal bid to become DA that has led to the Mayor and CM Krekorian's attempt to curb the powers of the office he was so keen to abandon. The Spring Street Gang are much like a pack of coyotes, they can detect the stench of a weakened, injured and vulnerable easy prey. Trutanich, with his political career in shreds after his deeply humiliating defeat in the DA election, is like a wounded animal alone in wild; he is easy prey for the roaming coyotes. On March 5, 2013, at around 9pm when the first results of the primary election are released, we will hear that blood-curdling yelp as the coyotes finally take care of Trutanich. He brought it all on himself, he has no one to blame but his arrogance and disregard for his own word.

As for your attempt to re-write history, let's get a few facts straight. Trutanich sat in City Hall on national tv and waved a bunch of papers around claiming there were 'criminal aspects' to the way AEG handled the Jackson memorial. That was the first and last we heard of that? What happened to the year long 'investigation?' No charges were ever filed, and when AEG made a $1.3M contribution toward the $5M costs, there was no statement from Trutanich, not a word. He later tried to claim the credit for it, but the fact it that his irresponsible paper waving and outlandish threats actually delayed the contribution that CMs Perry and Zine arranged.

As for the controller audit, that was supposed to be a right, not something needing an invitation. In any event, the audit was of Rocky Delgadillo's Workers Compensation program, and Trutanich was only too happy to throw him under the bus.

As for Trutanich's lawsuit against Northern Trust, and let's include similar ones he's brought against Deutsche Bank, and US Bank, they are no different to the 'criminal aspects' allegations against AEG. Those lawsuits have not been won, and most likely will not be won. They are simply further examples of the way Trutanich tries to advance his career - grabbing headlines with empty threats and false promises.

After-thought: After Trutanich is thrown out of office, perhaps he can get a job in Bell or Vernon. He would fit right in there.

john.schwada

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Correction: LA City Atty. Trutanich is not - as the LA Weekly headline implied - trying to protect "his" powers. He's trying to protect the institution of the city attorney as an independent player in the city's system of checks and balances. The cities like Bell and Vernon are littered with dismal evidence of what happens with corruption and abuse when city attorneys are the hirelings of city councils and mayors. Instead of having city attorney watchdogs, these cities have had lapdogs. And now their leaders are going to jail and their finances are in chaos.

Trutanich has been a vigorous, independent voice at City Hall and that explains why some Spring Street politicians are trying to trim Trutanich's sails. A few examples:

Trutanich was the first elected city official to invite (yes, invite) the city controller to audit his department, and he has proposed (not only just recently but a few years ago as well) that the city charter be amended to empower the city controller to audit the offices of the mayor, the council and the city attorney - authority not now found in the charter. Trutanich has set an example of commitment to transparent government. That makes some at City Hall very uncomfortable.

Trutanich has sued Northern Trust, a key financial adviser to the city's civilian pension board, claiming it defrauded the city out of $95 million with its illegal and risky investment bets with taxpayer/employee funds. Guess what, the pension board wanted no part of that lawsuit because bottom-line it left them with egg on their faces. After all, the sub-text to this lawsuit was that the pension board - many of whose members are political appointees - had neglected their duty to prudently manage the billions of dollars entrusted to them.

Trutanich also bent noses at City Hall when he said AEG (the owner of Staples Center) ought to help reimburse the city's costs of policing and traffic-managing the funeral services of AEG client Michael Jackson. The mayor didn't like that, nor did Councilwoman Jan Perry. Too bad. Trutanich said taxpayer's interests came first.

After-thought:: Michael Feuer, not surprisingly, has got his explanation of what's happening upside down. You can bet the forces for a spineless Los Angeles city attorney - not a gutsy one – are cheering Feuer’s bid for election as city attorney.

jodylax

@john.schwada You are smoking crack dude!

losangelesdragnet

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@john.schwada Oh, please. Trutanch went back on his word regarding the controllers right to audit elected officials. I guarantee that Trutanich will not allow the controller to audit his office to find out how much taxpayer money was wasted ferrying him around in his city SUV while he was attending fundraisers for his failed DA campaign.

abramsrl

@losangelesdragnet @john.schwada "The cities like Bell and Vernon are littered with dismal evidence of what happens with corruption and abuse when city attorneys are the hirelings of city councils and mayors. Instead of having city attorney watchdogs, these cities have had lapdogs. And now their leaders are going to jail and their finances are in chaos."

John Schwada appears as delusion as Trutanich -- The Los Angeles City Council is far more corrupt than any of these towns. They watched literally billions of tax dollars disappear into the pockets of the friends of the political hacks who run LA and ask, "Why can't we do that?"

The answer: You do not own the judges. Successful corruption is not just a matter of how much loot you can rip off, but whether you own the judges so that no one will be able to convict you of anything. Although the evidence would sink a battleship, no prosecutor will move against massive fraud at the Los Angeles City Council because the courts are terminally corrupt.

Look, for example, at the fraudulent Bait and Switch Scam involving the Hollywood Sign. The city ripped off people world wide with its fraud that the Hollywood Sign would be demolished unless the City could ransom it for $12.5 Million from a Chicago developer. The fraud was out in public for everyone in the world to see -- going on for months and months -- ripping of people from not only Los Angeles, but from South Africa, Thailand, Australia -- people around the entire world were deceived by the fraud that the Hollywood Sign was in danger. There was no danger to the Sign; the city wanted to pay off the Chicago developer Fox River Financial but it didn't want to use only its own own (although the City did contribute about $5 M in park money). Rather The City wanted to pay off the developer with other people's donations. What prosecutor would attempt to bring a case with the phalanx of corrupt judges? We know the answer. Not one.

Then we had the exposed $1.4 Appraisal fraud for 1601 N Vine -- again when the judiciary is corrupt, it is futile to even think of starting a prosecution.

What happened to the missing $424 Million from the Hollywood-Highland Project? Who cares if almost $1/2 BILLION disappears? There is no crime so egregious and no law so clear, that the corrupt courts won't be too blind to see it. Meanwhile the judges continue to stuff as many marijuana users into prison as possible. And then the politicos, who own the judges, raise our taxes to pay for more prisons and more guards.

Angelenos should remember one political truth: You cannot have a corrupt city hall without corrupt judges.

ageofknowledge

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Mayor MEChA is a failure. Obama's a failure. Bush was a failure. Nothing but failures.

abramsrl

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@ageofknowledge The problem is corruption and incompetence at all levels of government. The Feds give Trillions of dollars to wall street, but no WS felon goes to jail. The LA City council gives Billions to developers, but no prosecutor thinks of bringing a case. If a prosecutor did bring a case, it would go no where as the courts are as corrupt as City Hall -- they are all owned by the same few mega wealthy people.

Even Chicago and the Chinese prosecute their corrupt officials -- but not Los Angeles -- the land which the courts made safe for endless corruption.

Smitts

@abramsrl @jodylax I think Carmen Trutanich should be fired before any of the hard working deputy city attorneys who have to suffer working for that empty head lose their jobs. Trutanich has wasted millions of tax payer dollars with failed programs designed to 'enhance' his political career. His ACE Program (remember that hummer) occupied 30 attorneys for 2 years while he tried to con the council into thinking it was not a back door ruse to getting Grand Jury powers that both council and the State Assembly denied him. Imagine that asshat having Grand Jury powers? He also wasted another 20 lawyers on trying, and failing to regulate medical marijuana - what a disaster that was. He spent the last 2 years away from his highly paid job chasing his political dream of being District Attorney, and that flopped lower than whale sh*t. Why hasn't the LA Weekly investigated how much money this proven liar cost the taxpayer by having a chauffeur driven SUV and 3 LAPD guard to take him to political fundraisers and fish lunches in San Pedro? If the City of LA is serious about cutting waste, start at the top and throw this sorry assed excuse for a tough guy out on the street. This lying boob is always first to open his fat mouth threatening Occupy LA and Dream Act protesters, but when it comes time to go to court, he caves in like the fat phony that he really is. The criminal division of the city attorney's office should become part of the DA's office where it can be properly run, and the civil division should have a real lawyer with real experience running it - not a failed ambulance chaser or a termed out career politician.

abramsrl

@Smitts @jodylax I agree with everything you say about Trutanich and I could add a lot more. While I have not administered an MMPI 2 or a Millon, I would expect him to turn out to be a true psychopath. What we see as lies may not appear to be lies to him as he may be suffering from a serious mental illness which prevents him from perceiving his delusions for what they are, i.e. like being LA Chief Prosecutor, all the bogus hits on his campaign sites

I have heard that he has ruled that councilmembers who are in the bathroom and whose automatic voting machine votes YES are participating and voting in public, and thus, there is no Brown Act violation.

It is against Penal Code 86 for councilmembers to sell their votes to each other, but Trutanich has apparently condoned the years of voting selling. That is the only way to get unanimous votes over 99% of the time as we had when Garcetti was Council Prez. Attorneys who conspire with clients to violate criminal statutes are considered co-conspirators just like any other felon.

However, the violation of Penal Code 86 is of such long standing that people think it is fine. I suppose if every day on my way home from work, I went to Ralphs and just walked out with whatever food I wanted for dinner without paying, I would develop a sense of entitlement to steal from Ralphs. After the City Atty OKs the vote selling despite Penal Code 86, and a few thousand criminal votes have been taken, I guess everyone feels entitled to violate Penal Code 86.

abramsrl

A fight between jerks. The psychopath Trutanich shouldn't be allowed to represent anyone in court, but then Villababosa is crook and a fool.

jodylax

With asshats like Villagosa (not his real name) and LIEtanich, I am so glad I live in Long Beach. We have a mayor who actually gives a damn. We have a City Attorney who represents Long Beach in civil matters and a totally different office called the City Prosecutor who handles criminal matters. Too bad Los Angeles has such shitty leaders.