It's not about whether or not the candidate you back always wins - there's the fickle factor of some flashy campaign that works and obscures the facts, for example - but whether or not your candidate is the RIGHT candidate. And when it comes to that, Bratton has shown a pretty solid batting record that stands the test of time.

Looking back retrospectively, we can see that he was right and we'd have been better of if we HAD listened to him. That's why we generally should. Especially in the cases where he says, "I've worked with and trust this person, and you should too."

It's exactly this being right in hindsight after the flashy negative campaign flyers have been tossed in the trash and the REAL candidates emerge as politicians, showing why he didn't back them, that makes his endorsement so valuable. Not just to the candidate, but especially to us. If I were eligible to vote in San Francisco, I'd take a strong second look at Harris despite her notoriety for having "accidentally" allowed some illegal juveniles into that program, and the misfortune of the Balognas. It's whether or not she learned from the mistakes and what her steady course is that matters: Bratton knows how to filter out the phonies.

It's not about whether or not the candidate you back always wins - there's the fickle factor of some flashy campaign that works and obscures the facts, for example - but whether or not your candidate is the RIGHT candidate. And when it comes to that, Bratton has shown a pretty solid batting record that stands the test of time.

Looking back retrospectively, we can see that he was right and we'd have been better of if we HAD listened to him. That's why we generally should. Especially in the cases where he says, "I've worked with and trust this person, and you should too."

It's exactly this being right in hindsight after the flashy negative campaign flyers have been tossed in the trash and the REAL candidates emerge as politicians, showing why he didn't back them, that makes his endorsement so valuable. Not just to the candidate, but especially to us. If I were eligible to vote in San Francisco, I'd take a strong second look at Harris despite her notoriety for having "accidentally" allowed some illegal juveniles into that program, and the misfortune of the Balognas. It's whether or not she learned from the mistakes and what her steady course is that matters: Bratton knows how to filter out the phonies.

(By the way, about the death penalty, I heard her say her view is that of 4 of the last 9 Attorney Generals, including Brown's, but that she'd uphold state law. She also made a good point that among those on death row are a number of Octegenarians who cost the state a fortune compared to what they'd cost in the general population - while other octegenarians are prime candidates for early release so they can live out their lives in home detention and cost even less on MediCare and other general relief services.)

Hmmm, Jay: "It's not about whether or not the candidate you back always wins - there's the fickle factor of some flashy campaign that works and obscures the facts, for example - but whether or not your candidate is the RIGHT candidate."

What about Jack Weiss? Ugh. Missed THAT one, Bratton.

"And when it comes to that, Bratton has shown a pretty solid batting record that stands the test of time."

Alright, if you're comparing to batting averages, maybe that's okay, since great hitters miss it 2/3 of the time anyway.

That is why I agree with the Christopher Commission recommendations (which weren't adopted) that the LA Police chief not be allowed to endorse candidates for elected office while serving as Chief. That's in everyone's interest, even the present and future Chief's.

For Bratton, he could have waited a couple of weeks, but obviously he is a lame duck anyway.

One of Bratton's strengths was in improving relationships between local communities and the LAPD. In that spirit, you will always alienate some members of the community with an endorsement which partially defeats your efforts as Chief to strengthen your ties with the local community for more effective law enforcement and crime prevention.

Weiss Basher, glad to see your "objectivity" is so clear even to you. Yeah, I'd say Weiss is EXACTLY a case of Bratton having endorsed the right candidate for the job. The other guy is self-imploding and showing what a rightwing wingnut, ignorant blowharding, lying jerk-off he is, faster than even his worst critics could have ever imagined. Start by asking Laura Chick and the pro-medical cannabis community, both of whom he callously used for his campaign and lied to about upholding their views when he really intended to do the opposite all along. Too many more to count and it's only been a few months. Naturally the homeless, poor and voiceless for whom that office is the last refuge are beneath his contempt.

If you look at how many critical editorials and articles there are from former supporters alone, starting with the Daily News and Doug McIntyre who'd endorsed him, then add the others...And it didn't do Jim Newton's career at the Times a whole lot of good when it became clear how he sold out the whole paper's credibility. The fact that a clever, beyond-Rovian campaign manager and their Republican party strategist Thomas are widely seen to have controlled the Times and some media to the extent they did is a black mark on them and has significantly contributed to the utter dysfunction we have in the city today, with a half-literate city attorney far more beholden to his rightwing DA mentor's agenda vs. the city, than to doing public good.

He's been aptly described as a self-serving, opportunistic "wrench" in any sort of sane, coherent working policy. Of course serving the public good is something he wouldn't have known anything about, given his career in another city from where he reluctantly carpet-bagged into L A, lining his pockets for the other side, rapists, thugs, toxic corporate polluters (especially if they're big donors to certain rightwing causes), teaching them to evade environmental laws. While lying on his ballot designation that he's an environmental attorney, knowing the truth would be undesirable so he just lied.

Making up "lies and fancy soundbites" about the opponent and for himself, as Laura Chick aptly described his campaign, is EXACTLY the kind of dirty, sticky thing that someone like Bratton who knows who he's endorsing can cut beneath in a flash.

(By the way, I'm not making analogies between Trutanich and Delgadillo, who definitely has his negative issues which may make this an ill-fated bid, but at least he's been out there in the public eye, gotten his share of scrutiny, he's not some lying fraud come out of nowhere to serve an ulterior motive, an agenda he took pains to hide during the election.)

Is anyone really surprised that a public figure didn't endorse Delgadillo?

Let's see: (1) he lied about getting a football scholarship to Harvard; (2) he lied about playing in the NFL; (3) He lied about using city money to fix his car; (4) he lied about using city staff to run his personal errands; (5) he lied about actually praticing law for any significant period of time; (6) the mayor and council both hired their own attorney's because they didn't trust his judgement; and (7) he got slaughtered in the last AG race.

Yes, what a shock that Bratton went out on a limb on this one. Please.

"duh," you are right about your points, and forgot to add that Rocky also drove his own car without insurance for a year. Plus that his deal with billboard companies entitled them to put up the huge electricity-sucking monsters for the same tiny fee as the ones they replaced, a term never disclosed to the councilmembers who he got to approve it, in a deal that's been a quagmire ever since. But he's still better than the guy we've got now in that job. Good call not to endorse either of them.

Instead of this paper being called the LA Weekly, just rename it to the BRATTON CHRONICLES. Its amazing for as much as you bash Bratton with all the print, he must be a thorn in your side to put so much energy into bashing him all the time. He has his critics and no matter how many negative hit pieces you and other try to put out there his poll job performance numbers are still in the high 70's better then any politician in the nation right now. Make up your mind, just yesterday you said, Police Chief William Bratton, one of the most famous cops in the world, riding high on an era of low crime and sometimes absurdly over-praised accomplishments. A lot of people don't blame the Chief for wanting to get the hell out of dodge.

Hey Weiss Basher, to show you what a bad judge of character Bratton is in NOT picking YOUR guy, check out tonight's just-in L A Times Now piece from Phil Willon, who's working it into a full story: "City Attorney Threatens Officials including a City Councilmember with Jail Time over Sign Fight." Referring to the interim head of Building & Safety and Jan Perry, if she even continued to argue her case that AEG Live was not included in the August ICO barring all new signage.

He declined to comment claiming she was his client. Lucky her - just like Laura Chick, who was denied the right to her own attorney by the Council (on Trutanich's insistence) to defend herself from: The City Attorney. In the Controller-Audit issue. (That he'd promised to support Chick/Greuel and their lawyer on no matter how the court decision came down but now, that the judge has urged them to resolve the dispute and matter of relatively minor legal fees for Chick's lawyer, he's calling them "losers" and refuses all pleas to do the sensible thing.)

On top of a few pieces critical of him in today's L A CityWatch, the conservative-skewing blog of Neighborhood Councils, including a story and video on how he bullied and intentionally intimidated a constituent (a cancer survivor/ medical marijuana advocate) at last Saturday's Neighborhood Council Congress, who questioned his methods and reasoning in banning all shop sales. (After promising the MJ community to be "for compassionate use" and getting them to work aggressively for his campaign.)

MAJOR Anger Management and Bullying Issues, inappropriate even for the small-time Long Beach criminal attorney who did anything no holds-barred to get his thugs off, majorly, recall-worthy inappropriate for someone misusing this level of public trust and legal power.

Can you imagine if Bratton HAD endorsed this guy? And what does it say about DA Cooley, who recruited him, groomed him and twisted arms to get him elected? (And Baca, too.)