Carmen Trutanich’s followers partied election night away at the Universal Hilton while the mayor and his good friend poor Jack Weiss huddled in a back room (appropriately) at Canter’s Deli secluded from their glum financiers and called it an early night as the returns flowed in.
Such is the joy of victory and the heartache of defeat.
Weiss must have been as fatigued as most voters from watching campaign consultant Ace Smith’s smear ads so he couldn’t make it to the City Council meeting Wednesday.– not that there was anything unusual in that.
The humiliating defeat of his “little brother” in the City Attorney’s race dashed any hope the mayor has about running for governor — a “slap” in his face, Councilman Bill Rosendahl told the Times.
But it’s not the last we’ll hear of Weiss. You can take the mayor’s word for it.
“Jack’s like a little brother to me, and he is because I sat with him
on the City Council. I saw his intellect, his integrity, his honesty,” the mayor told reporters.
The word on the street is that the mayor wants to name Weiss his deputy mayor for homeland security.
I know it’s hard to believe what with thousands being laid off or paid off and the city broke. My dog Bruno, who was homeless and jobless for so long but now provides excellent home security, is still yowling at the news.
If I interpreted his barking right, he said: “A dumb mutt like me has more intellect, integrity and honesty than either of them, and knows more about keeping people safe than hizzoner and his lapdog will ever know.”
In contrast, “Nuch” grabbed an hour or two of sleep took a celebratory lap around the city and ended up at the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association monthly meeting Wednesday night where he was greeted like a triumphant Caesar returning to Rome.
There was fire in his belly as he got a standing ovation from the packed cafeteria at Notre Dame High School.
“I’m touched and overwhelmed,” he told the crowd. “I’m not going to let you down. We took over the city last night…We’re going to change the way politics is played in the city of Los Angeles.
“I’m not a politician. I don’t want to be one. I want to leave a legacy. I want to touch your lives by bringing you a better government.”
That ought to be scary enough to the City Hall political machine but he added that he will vigorously investigate and prosecute ethics violations in City Hall, working closely with District Attorney Steve Cooley, and seek state legislation, if needed, to end the pay-to-play corruption that pervades local politics.
Then, as he left to go to yet another event, he called Controller-elect Wendy Greuel and asked her to conduct a full audit of the City Attorney’s office — something current City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, with support from the council, went to court to block former Controller Laura Chick from doing for the last year.
A wounded mayor, a crusading prosecutor — this is going to be fun. Now if David Vahedi can beat Paul Koretz when all the votes are counted and a servant of the people could be elected to succeed Greuel in District 2 …
Isn’t interesting that neither Rosendahl or Janice Hahn had the guts to come out openly for Trutanich. Now Rosendahl is being a hypocrite pretending its “a new day in city hall.” He’s more aligned to the Mayor then most council members. Then you have Janice Hahn who only a couple of days before the election came out. Another Mayor groupie who jumps on the bandwagon. Typical politicans.
Isn’t it interesting that neither Rosendahl or Janice Hahn had the guts to come out openly for Trutanich. Now Rosendahl is being a hypocrite pretending its “a new day in city hall.” He’s more aligned to the Mayor then most council members. Then you have Janice Hahn who only a couple of days before the election came out. Another Mayor groupie who jumps on the bandwagon. Typical politicans.
The only problem with Greuel is she is not a real auditor and probably does not know how to conduct a real audit. That along with the fact that she is part of the clique and will not stand on her own.
Anon 9:06am
Maybe Gruel was part of the clique but I do not think she is stupid. She is making good money and she will want to continue. That is the effect of the May 19 election. The old network is now in real trouble. People in office are not
guaranteed anything as long as we voters hang in there and insist on change for the better.
This city is of, by and for the people first starting this past Tuesday. Hooray!
Of the 15 members of the City Council, only one publically came out in support of Trutanich and that was Dennis Zine.
I think it was very smart for the other council people NOT to endorse either candidate if they didn’t support Jack Weiss.
We have a famously vindicative mayor and the reality is that if Weiss won, those districts whose Councilperson was on record supporting Nuch would have been toast.
The position of not endorsing Weiss was strong enough.
THANK YOU for posting this video, Ron. I wanted so much to be there for what I just KNEW was going to be an exciting victory for Carmen Trutanich – but after 15+ hours working at the election polls, I just couldn’t bring myself to drive to Universal City.
THANK YOU too, Ron, for connecting so many of us across this city for this fine result. And a HUGE thanks to Jane Usher, who is a real champion for the grassroots democracy this City needs! (and has now proven the capacity to win, just like with Bill Rosendahl when he was first elected)
And for those who don’t like term limits — here is a great example why they are a good thing.
I wouldn’t expect much to change under Trutanich. It’s a post with limited authority, despite what the campaign commercials would have you believe.
City Attorney? Limited authority? You have know idea what you are talking about.
And the City Attorney has a bully pulpit on certain topics.
There is a lot of power for making change.
Could someone please explain the ballot issue with regards to the Vahedi/Koretz vote?
Anon 8:47 a.m. – AGREE.
A SPECIAL thanks to the 131,777 Angelenos who voted for City Attorney TRUtanich for the right reasons, change.
Now that Nuch will be in office, come on Wendy Gruehl, the two of you should join forces and crack down on the waste going on at all of the City departments. You two would be heroes!
It is Jane Usher and people who believe in her that made Trutanich City Attorney.
Come on Wendy Gruehl. Join Nuch Trutanich and crack down on all of the waste at all of the City Departments. You would both be heroes to taxpayers!
Re the ballot issue with regards to the Vahedi/Koretz vote: Sample ballots mailed to some precincts in CD5 were incorrect – they did not include the page that showed the choice between Vahedi and Koretz. (They probably mailed sample ballots meant for a different district). This means that absentee voters from those precincts did not vote for either Koretz or Vahedi. It could make some difference because the precincts affected were clustered near Vahedi’s residence, so one would expect a much higher proportion of Vahedi (the neighborhood activist) votes there than in the district as a whole.
Whatever your choice of candidate the fact that all 3 of the still-paper main papers all acted as political lobbies for Trutanich according to many observers.
Everyone but Jill Stewart and some of her flacks can see that the L A Weekly opposes all things and people associated with Antonio and looks for opportunities to bash him/them. In today’s issue they public Bratton’s assertion of that view, and in witnessla.com veteran journalist/ prof Celeste Fremon examines if it’s true and convincingly shows it is. Commenters (name writers and anon) confirm and add: compelling reading.
Then Joe Mailander in street-hassle.blogspot.com (5/20, “The City Staggers Toward Tribal Implosion — Again” exposes both the L A Times and Daily News for their anti-Weiss/ pro-Nooch bias and why this “chest-thumping death penalty advocate who looks more like a Vegas pit-boss than a savvy, sangfroid Angeleno” is bad for the city. (Of course, the fact that he and his supporters like Zine, Cooley and Knabe ARE all “a tribal throwback to the whiter days in the City” of old white conservative people is a plus for readers of this blog, who ARE that base, but it’s compelling food for thought for anyone who cares that the TRUE objective major papers are dead.) Besides the skewed Op Eds (WAY beyond the pale of legitimacy in case of Times — they must have worred Weiss was winning and got REAL low and dirty) even readers of blogs like this and MS profusely thank David Zahniser for lobbying for Tru by writing endless hit pieces on Weiss just before the campaign while spinning away Trutanich’s nastiness, falsehoods and misunderstanding of the law exposed elsewhere. Maeve Reston had her share of articles on behalf of the Trutanich campaign too.
What Fremon finds in the case of the Weekly is true of ALL 3 of them. They’re propaganda shills, prostitutes to whoever owns them. I agree with Mailander and others: they’re rotten shells of their former selves, and the sooner they finally fold up and get buried the better.
5:51, your comments are nothing more then sour grapes.
The reasons Weiss lost are simple and have been oft repeated. He alienated himself from his constituants and demonstrated that he is an arrogant, self serving individual who pandered to special business interests rather than work for the residents of his council district.
His City Council record speaks for itself, he was essentially an absent politition, even when he was in the building, whe was working on something other than the people’s business.
Weiss brought to his campaign a legacy of flaunting campaign finance laws, making promises to return soiled money and then never following through….his actions on at least 2 occasions were arguably criminal in nature.
He tried to bully his way into the City Attorney’s office with the assistance of Villaraigosa’s attack dogs and money interests.
During the campaign, it was repeatedly asked of his supporters to name just one major accomplishment Weiss had made while on the Council. It was never answered, instead, like you, they spewed drivel about Trutanich being in cahoots with the NRA, defending criminal, anti-environmentalists and seal killers. And of course he was accused of being a REPUBLICAN!, OH MY GOD!! The big “R” not in LA!!!!
Fortunately the people saw through the Ace Smith attack machine propaganda, which of course you are still spewing, and voted Mr. Trutanich into office by an overwhelming margin.
Put a fork in it, go away, shut up, its over and done, Weiss is history and Trutanich is City Attorney……enough already, take your whiney voice elsewhere!
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