Trutanich Transparency Questioned As ContractGate Unfolds

City Attorney Carmen Trutanich's commitment to transparency is coming under fire from sources other than TRU is False! Actions taken by Trutanich staffers to remove a search tool that allows the public to search contracts awarded by Trutanich as City Attorney were revealed last week by Fishbowl LA.

The ContractGate scandal started when the Fishbowl LA news piece was published last week. Their website posts "LA Media News, Unspooled," and it is curious that their news piece featuring a San Diego based effort called "Flashlight" (which makes information concerning contributions to politicians and the contracts that politicians award easier for the public to find) chose to use City Attorney Trutanich as the poster child for what not to do.

Fishbowl LA states that: "So long as Flashlight keeps its link index fresh, the site could prove extremely useful as a reporting tool. That said, keeping public information links fresh is not easy. For instance, when LA City Attorney Carmen Trutanich took office, his staff removed a handy search tool from the city attorney’s website that allowed the public to search through various city contracts."


Fishbowl LA's allegation appears to be partially borne out by a quick look at the City Attorney's website which has a very untidy and disorganized appearance compared to other City websites. Of course photo-ops of Trutanich feature most prominently, perhaps underlying Trutanich's main goal - self promotion. But if there is a Contract Search Tool, it is well hidden, and we could not find it.

So what is it that Trutanich is trying to make harder to find? Could there be awkward and embarrassing contracts that the City Attorney's Office has awarded?

Trutanich was known to be highly critical of his predecessor, Rocky Delgadillo, for hiring 'politicals' who engaged in fundraising and media promotion on the taxpayer dime, and removal of a contract search tool might make it harder for the public to research precisely why certain people are employed by Trutanich.

It seems that, increasingly, the media are discovering more and more reasons why Trutanich is not the person he claimed to be, and even the Los Angeles Dragnet published a story on ContractGate last week.  The Dragnet has been a strong supporter of Trutanich, however, recently the Dragnet started linking to articles written here revealing less than favorable pieces about the onetime "People's Lawyer."

Whatever the reason, for someone who promised 'Transparency' prominently in his campaign and well into his administration, it seems that FishBowl LA has unearthed yet another reason to believe TRU is False!

TRU LIES IV: TRUTANICH TO RENEGE ON PLEDGE NOT TO RUN FOR DA

Anonymous sources in the City Attorney's Office have confirmed what has been suspected for some time; Carmen "The Clown" Trutanich is going to run for District Attorney in the February 2012 primary election and renege on his $100,000 pledge to serve two terms as City Attorney.

Those familiar with Carmen the Clown's sleazy style of deception will be not be surprised at the news, just horrified that someone who campaigned on a platform of honesty, transparency and integrity could be so arrogant as to think himself fit to be DA when he cannot even be trusted stick to his signed, sworn and written pledge, which you can read in full by clicking here.

The highlights of Trutanich's pledge are:

1. Serve out his elected term in its entirety.
2. Seek a second term.
3. Specifically will not seek the position of District Attorney.
4. Pay a $100,000 fine from personal funds if he violates the pledge.
5. Pay for a full page advert in every LA newspaper with a headshot and the words "I AM A LIAR" in large block print.

Trutanich must be so drunk on power that he has forgotten the main reason why he was elected; because he was not Jack Weiss. In fact it was Councilman Dennis Zine who first said "Vote for anyone but Weiss," which Trutanich took as an endorsement.

If his past antics aren't enough to convince voters that Trutanich is no different to lying career politicians like Weiss, then this will seal the deal with even the most hard core republicans. In violating his sworn oath, Trutanich shows the same arrogance and disdain for voters that he and his sycophantic lap-dog blogger, David Berger (who we know is the "City Hall Insider"), used to contrast themselves from "Career Politicians."

Interestingly, Dennis Zine has endorsed Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson's candidacy for District Attorney. It's probably only a question of time before Zine says that Trutanich is an "egotistical individual who will do anything to try to convince voters to elect him to public office," it's what Zine said about Weiss. Seems the shoe fits Trutanich too.

TRU LIES - When is a "Criminal Prosecutor" NOT?

Short Answer: When Carmen "The Clown" Trutanich has anything to do with it.

Satirical parody of a "fixer"

 Rumors now point to Los Angeles City Attorney, Carmen "The Clown" Trutanich, as being at the center of a cynical conspiracy to mislead voters into voting for an unqualified candidate.

In November's mid term elections voters faced with choices about unknown candidates usually voted according to party affiliation. But with important "non partisan" races, such as those for Superior Court Judges, voters often have nothing to go on but the candidates' name and ballot designation; three words that are supposed to inform voters about a candidate's occupation.

In the race for Judicial Office Number 117, voters were faced with a choice between  Alan Schneider, a "Gang Homicide Prosecutor" and Tom Griego, a "Criminal Prosecutor." A hard choice as both candidates appear to do the things that voters approve of - putting bad guys in jail.

But in the case of Tom Griego, voters could not have known that according to the Metropolitan News Enterprise, the closest Griego ever got to putting anyone in jail for the past 10 years, was sitting at a desk reading a manual about crime. So how was it that Griego was able to obtain what the Met News called a "misleading" ballot designation?

The answer appears to be that Trutanich manipulated things so that Griego could fool voters who knew nothing about him. Griego, a civil lawyer in the City Attorney's office, requested a transfer to the criminal division for the sole purpose of being able to call himself a "Criminal Prosecutor," when the truth was that he was nothing of the sort.

Trutanich surprisingly agreed to the transfer even though at the same time he was telling everyone that the budget crisis meant he needed as many lawyers as possible to transfer to the civil division because the Airport, Port and DWP pay for legal services. So, the only reason for Trutanich to transfer Griego out of civil must been to "make it happen" and aid and abet voter deception.

Maybe Trutanich thought a little deception is not such a bad thing, after all, he called himself an "Environmental Lawyer" because he defended environmental criminals. But in the case of Griego, Trutanich not only allowed this deception to be conducted in his name (Trutanich endorsed Griego) but he also kept back one important fact about Griego's ability to be a judge. The Los Angeles County Bar Association routinely assesses the qualifications of those who seek to become judges. In the case of Griego's opponent LACBA rated Alan Schneider as "Well Qualified." But Griego? LACBA rated Griego "Not Qualified." Nevertheless, Trutanich thought it was 'OK' to try to sick an unqualified candidate on the electorate, all nicely dressed up with an endorsement and an attractive ballot designation.

Many will find Trutanich's central role in this conspiracy to con the public deeply disturbing. Trutanich campaigned on "Honesty" and "Openness" and "Transparency," and should have been the one person you would expect to do everything in his power to prevent this obfuscation of justice. But that's all part of Tutanich's facade, and it's disgusting.

Other blogs  raised questions about Tom Griego, but TRU is False tells you the rest of the story.

Carmen The Clown Kills The Neighborhood Prosecutor Program

On Sunday November 7, 2010, the Los Angeles Daily News reported that Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen "The Clown" Trutanich had gone back on yet another promise and had effectively shut down the Neighborhood Prosecutor Program.

According to the report, Trutanich did not comment directly, but instead hid behind the statements of a chief deputy who blamed the budget cuts for the need to trim down the program to the point where most believe that it will cease to exist. The NPP was started by Trutanich's predecessor, Rocky Delgadillo, and has earned praise as well as the admiration of blighted communities for the way it finds innovative and non-conventional solutions.

According to the Daily News "From 2002 through April of this year, neighborhood prosecutors at 19 police stations attended more than 27,000 community meetings, handled more than 20,000 complaints and prosecuted nearly 9,000 criminal cases, with a conviction rate of nearly 90 percent." That's an impressive success rate, and that's likely the problem; it's Delgadillo's success, not Trutanich's.

Trutanich, who many accuse of being a bully, control freak and an egoist, may have become increasingly upset when he found that his Neighborhood Prosecutors had developed strong bonds with the communities they served. Bonds that were, perhaps, stronger than his own.

It was an open secret that Trutanich resented the fact that many of the Neighborhood Prosecutors were active politically in their spare time. Perhaps if they had been active Republicans Trutanich wouldn't have had a problem with them or the Neighborhood Prosecutor Program. But, of course, they were all Democrats, so perhaps Trutanich cut them off and closed down the program so that he couldn't be accused of bias.

And while Trutanich hides behind one of his chief deputies, and uses the budget as "cover" to kill off political opponents and a valuable program, his cover may get a little thin when questions start to be asked about how his budget was able to stretch to allow Tom Griego, a highly paid civil lawyer in his office, to be transferred to the criminal division just so Griego could call himself a "Criminal Prosecutor" in a run to become a judge. According to the Metropolitan News Enterprise, apparently all Griego did in the criminal division was "read manuals" about crime while drawing a high City salary.

Maybe that 'budget' cover wasn't such a good idea. Remember, we're here to show you what is, and what is not TRU.