Trutanich's Turbid Ties to Lobbyist Surface In LA Weekly Report

The LA Weekly mentions City Attorney Carmen 'the Clown' Trutanich no less than 11 times in it's article "How Lobbyist John Ek Gets His Way at City Hall," published on April 21, 2011.

But Trutanich isn't mentioned as taking an "aggressive stance" against lobbyist John Ek's efforts to allow his client, HMS Host, to hold on to its concessions at Los Angeles Airport where LA Weekly says HMS Host has given LAX a reputation for "lousy food."

Few would disagree that food concessions at LAX are 'lousy,' add 'expensive' and 'surly' to a long list of complaints about HMS Host too.

But far from defending traveller's rights, Trutanich seems to be on the side of Ek's client here, and LA Weekly unveils a long and tangled series of dealings between Trutanich and Ek which might explain why Trutanich was so willing to take sides with Ek and HMS Host.

LA Weekly reveals that both Trutanich and Ek are part of San Pedro's power-broker community. No real surprise then, that during Mayor Jim Hahn's administration, Ek's lobbying activities came under investigation when, according to Gene Maddaus at the LA Weekly, one of Ek's airport clients, URS, "complained to investigators that he had urged them to donate to Hahn's anti-secession campaign. This was supposedly done at the behest of Hahn's appointee to the Airport Commission, and Ek allegedly warned of the consequences of not contributing." Maddaus said.

Maddaus reports that Ek denied the pay-to-play allegation, but was nevertheless "called as a witness before the grand jury, and sought counsel from a well-known local defense attorney — Carmen Trutanich, now L.A. city attorney. Ek was never charged." Said Maddaus.

Trutanich's ties to Ek did not end there. Two weeks before Trutanich launched his bid for City Attorney, he had a small dinner at Trani's Ristorante to discuss the campaign. Trutanich's two guests were Janice Hahn and John Ek. Since becoming City Attorney, Trutanich and Ek have continued their association. Recently, at the Dalmation-American Club fish luncheon, another of Trutanich's regular haunts, "Ek greeted Trutanich with a bear hug." Maddaus said.

So when the thorny question of whether the Airport commission should evict HMS Host, (Host placed last of four bidders for the lucrative LAX concession contract), Trutanich came to Ek and HMS Host's rescue; he declared that there was a conflict of interest.

No, not the conflict of interest that you might expect - that Trutanich and Ek enjoy a close relationship, but rather that the LAX commission president, Alan Rothenberg, had a conflict of interest;  he is on the board of California Pizza Kitchen, and CPK is part of Host's concessionaires. But rather than simply require Rothenberg to recuse himself, and let the Airport commission hear HMS Host's appeal, according to Maddaus "Trutanich decided to disqualify the entire commission. That decision changed the entire process, sending the appeal into a different arena, one more solicitous to Host. The appeal went to the council's Board of Referred Powers, an obscure panel chaired by Cardenas and featuring Hahn as a member."

The result of Trutanich's decision has been to delay the removal of HMS Host and prolong the agony of travelers; earning HMS Host far more than Ek's fees.

But wait, there's more. According to Maddaus, one of Trutanich's deputies "Kelly Martin, the city attorney assigned to LAX, wrote a response that strongly defended the airport" from accusations by HMS Host that "the bidding process was flawed and should be thrown out." In a surprise move, Trutanich re-assigned Martin to other duties, doubtless much to the relief of Ek and HMS Host.

Of course, Trutanich's decision to remove Martin probably has an explanation that might pass the straight-face test, but then again, Trutanich also has a reputation for re-assigning his deputies for questionable reasons, as in the case of deputy city attorney Tom Griego, who Trutanich transferred to the criminal division in order that Griego could call himself a "criminal prosecutor" in his bid to fool voters into electing him as a Superior Court Judge.

Trutanich's dealings with Ek must surely make some wonder who the "people's lawyer" is really working for.

Trutanich Is The New McCarthy

Joseph McCarthy and Carmen "The Clown" Trutanich
Can you tell the difference?

Both the Los Angeles Times and the LA Weekly yesterday published articles about Trutanich. The Los Angeles City Attorney is running for District Attorney and has secured the services of John Shallman as campaign manager. This was previously reported on Political Pantloads, as was the LA Weekly's observation that the relationship between former supporter Steve Cooley and the Clown of City Hall is over; "Cooley was livid"said the LA Weekly, when he found out that Trutanich was running for District Attorney - the Clown didn't even have the guts to tell Cooley, he had to hear about it second hand.

Comments to the LA Times Op-Ed piece were interesting, especially this one from anonymous blogger "Truth and Justice for All," we repeat it here because it has some highly insightful comments on the real Trutanich and probably explains why Jim Newton's Op-Ed piece was not as complete an excoriation of Trutanich as it should have been - Newton got swayed by Trutanich's double-speak rambling and teary-eyed false sincerity:

"The truth about Trutanich is really disturbing. I believe he's a con man of the first order. Just look at how he tried to play you Jim - first he bambozzles you with rambling responses to questions, then, when you see through the "BS," he plays the emotion card and does the teary eyed "I'm just trying to do the right thing" act. What you may not realize is that every moment of his affable bumbling emotional fool routine, is just that; an act. It's designed to fool you, designed to disarm your criticism and he is a master at doing it. 


After lunch I bet he gave you a bear hug and a slap on the back after luch, and promised you would be "friends for life." Sorry, but it's the line he uses all the time and he delivers it beautifully, but while you're all overcome with this extragavent expression of emotion, he's looking at you with eyes colder than an aligator's, hoping he can turn you and use you. 


It's not really surprising; 20 years as a successful defense attorney, Trutanich learnt how to use distraction and deception to be an effective advocate for his client. That's no disrespect to defense attorneys, it's what they have to do to give their often guilty clients the zealous representation that the law demands. But it's not duty of a prosecutor to win at all costs - we don't want another McCarthy in power."


"Truth and Justice for All" writes with a passion an insight that can only come from someone close enough to Trutanich to know his modus operandi, his "schtick" - distraction, disarmament and utter insincerity.

Both the LA Times and the LA Weekly mentioned Trutanich's failed bid to get his own Grand Jury, but it was "Truth and Justice for All" who made the darkest connection of all; "We don't want another McCarthy in power."

The comparison to Joseph McCarthy is not without merit. Trutanich wanted his own Grand Jury to be a veritable Star Chamber, where Trutanich could grill and grind his enemies on the flimsiest of evidence, much like McCarthy did with his inquisition. It's not hard to imagine the long line of Trutanich's enemies outside his secret Grand Jury room, and it's not hard to imagine just how abusive Trutanich's use of that power might be. We got a glimpse of that over the billboard issue when Trutanich jailed a businessman on a $1M arrest warrant that a court later reduced to $150k - still well above the schedule bail for a misdemeanor violation of the City Code.

Interesting, if you look at the timing of Trutanich's bid to get his Star Chamber, it was around the time that he began to realize that his "criminal aspects" investigation into the Michael Jackson memorial was going nowhere. There was no evidence to back-up Trutanich's bombshell statement to the City Council that there were "criminal aspects" to anything.

But if Trutanich had Grand Jury powers he could haul AEG's Tim Leiweke in to his secret court and subpoena every shred of paper that might prove a connection to some "criminal aspect" to what most people believe was an appropriate, if expensive, memorial to one of America's greatest musical talents.

This is the TRUe threat of Trutanich gaining Grand Jury powers, and while the City Council put an end to that nightmare violation of civil rights, it's only a temporary fix. If Trutanich succeeds in his bid to become District Attorney he gets instant access to not one but two secret Grand Juries, and you can bet they will be in session 24/7.