Friday, March 23, 2012
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Court Sets April Hearing on Trutanich Ballot Designation
By KENNETH OFGANG, Staff Writer
The Los Angeles Superior Court yesterday issued an alternative writ of mandate and scheduled a hearing for April 11 on Alan Jackson’s challenge to Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich’s ballot designation.
The hearing is set to take place in Dept. 86 before Judge Ann I. Jones.
Trutanich and Jackson are among six candidates seeking to succeed Steve Cooley as district attorney in the June 5 primary. Jackson last week petitioned for a writ of mandate, directing the registrar-recorder to strike the city attorney’s designation as “Los Angeles Chief Prosecutor.”
Jackson claims it is misleading for Trutanich to refer to himself as “chief prosecutor” because he does not actually prosecute cases himself, and because he is only responsible for misdemeanor prosecutions, and then only in the city, not countywide.
“Trutanich is improperly trying to mislead voters into believing that he is currently the ‘Chief Prosecutor’ for the County of Los Angeles,” Jackson alleges in his petition.
Jackson also argues that neither “Los Angeles Chief Prosecutor” nor “Chief Criminal Prosecutor,” which Trutanich submitted as a proposed alternative in the event the former is unacceptable, is a “profession” or a “principal” occupation or vocation, within the meaning of the Elections Code.
Jackson argued in his petition that neither of those designations constitutes Jackson asserted that Trutanich’s profession is “law,” that “his appropriate professional description is ‘attorney,’” and that his vocation or occupation is “Los Angeles City Attorney.”
Trutanich responded earlier in the week, through his campaign manager, that the designation is “absolutely accurate” because Trutanich “is the chief and he is a prosecutor.”
The other candidates running are all current prosecutors in the District Attorney’s Office. They are John L. Breault III, Bobby Grace, Danette Meyers, and Jackie Lacy.
Copyright 2012, Metropolitan News Company