Thursday, May 31, 2012
Page 15
SNIPPETS (Column)
Dragnet Website Presents Video With TV Commentaries on Trutanich
The Los Angeles Dragnet website, a persistent critic of Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, yesterday posted nearly four-minutes of commentary by FOX 11 news anchor Jeff Michael and KABC talk show host Larry Elder slamming Trutanich, a candidate for district attorney.
The remarks were aired on Fox 11 Tuesday night.
Michael recounts an incident told of in a Trutanich video. He says:
“Thirty years ago, as a young prosecutor investigating a murder in South Los Angeles, he’s surrounded by gang members, who opened fire on him. The trouble is, the LAPD has no record of such a shooting ever happening. The DA’s Office can’t find the file regarding that case, or Trutanich—and even Trutanich, himself, when he was under oath four years ago, said he wasn’t actually sure what happened that afternoon.”
Elder opines: “Moral of the story, don’t run for higher office if you’re going to make stuff up” because the lies will be “found out.”
Trutanich asked Attorney General Kamala Harris to investigate how the file came to be missing. Elder remarks:
“He gave you the impression that it was just now missing and one of his five opponents got his personnel file.”
Michael chimes in that Trutanich knew it was missing in 2008 when a research firm he hired prepared a dossier on him. The anchor remarks: “It wasn’t just now.”
On the Dragnet website (http://losangelesdragnet. blogspot.com), “Joe Friday” (pseudonym for Deputy District Attorney David Berger) comments that “any hope” on the part of Trutanich “that the outcry surrounding his lies about being the target of an assassination attempt would subside were dashed” when Michael and Elder “picked apart Trutanich’s most audacious lie to date.”
“Friday” continues:
“Trutanich’s lies about the Green Meadows Park assassination attempt were first revealed by LA Times reporter Jack Leonard who was unable to find any evidence that Trutanich had been surrounded and shot at by gang members.
“Trutanich’s response to the accusation that he had made the whole thing up was to claim that his personnel file documenting his brief career at the DA’s office in the 1980’s would corroborate his heroism. Trutanich then claimed that he was ‘shocked’ to be told by the LA Times that his personnel file was missing.
“Compounding one lie with yet another, Trutanich then wrote to Attorney General Kamala Harris demanding an investigation and accusing DA Steve Cooley of ‘suspicious political activity,’ implying that Cooley had caused his personnel file to go missing.
“When the LA Times revealed that Trutanich had paid an estimated $10,000 to VR Research to perform a full background check on himself in 2008 which reported on his missing personnel file, and therefore was lying when he claimed to have been ‘shocked’ at the recent discovery, Kamala Harris promptly announced there would be no investigation.”
The video remains posted on the carmentrutanich.com website in which Jim Bell, a former police investigator, claims:
“[Gang members] had surrounded Nuch. And as soon as they saw my police vehicle, shots were being fired at Carmen Trutanich. Even faced with the gang members, Carmen Trutanich wasn’t afraid.”
•La Opinión, a Spanish language newspaper has endorsed Trutanich. Its editorial says:
“The race for Los Angeles District Attorney is bringing disparate candidates face to face. This position requires administrative experience, familiarity with the work of this office, and imagination at a time of budget cuts and changes in the corrections system. With this in mind, we think Carmen Trutanich is the most suitable candidate for the Latino community.”
It goes on to say:
“[Chief Deputy District Attorney Jackie] Lacey supports the legal stance of the current District Attorney, Steve Cooley—who is also the main supporter of her candidacy—that the LAPD’s decision to decrease 30-day vehicle impounds is illegal. This contrasts with Trutanich’s position; he, like Attorney General Kamala Harris, thinks this is a sound decision.
This position, and probably others, has earned Lacey controversial endorsements, like those of John and Ken, radio hosts who rail against immigrants. It’s extremely contradictory to be in that type of company and seek support from Latinos.”
La Opinión observes:
“It’s true that Trutanich’s aggressive style has been controversial and his unfulfilled promise to not leave his position before finishing the term he was elected for put his credibility into question. But he is not the first candidate to adapt his political ambitions to current conditions.
“In summary, we think a jolt like the one Trutanich would give to the office of the Los Angeles District Attorney, with all that entails, is good.”
Trutanich said in a news release yesterday:
“I am truly honored to have the support and endorsement of La Opinión, as well as so many Latino leaders from all across LA County. Their support sends a powerful message to the Latino community that my bold vision of reforming the D.A.’s office is the right approach for fixing our criminal justice system. They agree that we can no longer focus solely on prosecution, and instead, we must be innovative and focus more on crime prevention, education, and after-school programs that keep kids out of gangs.”
•The Los Angeles County Bar Assn. is slated to hold its annual installation of officers and awards dinner on June 14 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
Richard J. Burdge Jr. will be sworn in as LACBA president.
Andrew S. Dhadwal will be inducted as president of the Barristers.
LACBA’s highest honor, the Shattuck-Price Award, will be presented to Richard Rothschild, director of litigation at the Western Center on Law and Poverty.
These awards will also be conferred:
Samuel L. Williams Outstanding Trustee Award: Paul R. Kiesel.
Matthew S. Rae Jr. Outstanding Section Leader Award: Sarah E. Luppen
Patricia Phillips Outstanding Committee Service Award: Stephen T. Holzer
Benjamin Aranda III Outstanding Public Service Awards: AIDS Legal Services Project Brian K. Condon, Domestic Violence Project, Buchalter Nemer Immigration Legal Assistance Project, Bill Travis Klein Center for Civic Mediation, Rebecca L. Weiker. MPH.
Registration will open at 5:30 p.m., a cocktail reception will be held from 6-7 p.m., followed by the program. Cocktails, desserts and coffee will be available after the program.
The cost is $160 for judges, and government or public interest attorneys, and $215 for others. Ordinary tables of 10 are $2,000, while “VIP supporter tables” are being sold for $3,300.
Reservations can be made by telephoning the Member Services Department at (213) 896-6560.
•The Small Firm and Sole Practitioner Section of the San Fernando Valley Bar Assn. has set a June 5 talk on “Tools for Persuasive Writing.”
It will be delivered by Honey Kessler Amado, a certified appellate law specialist.
The lunch meeting will be held at noon in the SFVBA Conference Room at the bar association’s headquarters at 21250 Califa St., Woodland Hills.
The cost is $30 for members who prepay; $40 for members paying at the door and non-members prepaying; and $50 for non-members at the door.
There will be one hour of MCLE credit.
•The Los Angeles Paralegal Association plans to stage a June 20 discussion of electronic filing in the Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California.
Maria Soria and Yamira D. Rodriguez, operations supervisors of electronic court filing will explain the system.
Jeffrey R. Cozad, law clerk to Bankruptcy Court Chief Judge Vincent P. Zurzolo, will provide an update on the local rules.
Registration and networking is scheduled to start at 6 p.m., dinner at 6:30 p.m., and the program at 7:30 p.m. The cost is $30 for LAPA members and $35 non-members.
The event will take place in the office of Alston + Bird LLP, 333 S. Hope Street, 16th Floor, Los Angeles.
Information is available from Melanie Mizrahie, at 310-993-4719, or James Bartlett, at 310-948-0938.
Copyright 2012, Metropolitan News Company