UPDATE: Controller Wendy Greuel took her claims against City Attorney Carmen “Nuch” Trutanich to KABC Morning Talk Show host Doug McIntyre Thursday. Here’s the audio (greuel.mp3).
First, he pulled a grandstand play over Michael Jackson, giving the City Council just 72 hours to clean up the messy problem of how much the funeral extravaganza cost and who will pay.
Then, he laid down the law to the Planning Commission over their latest giveaway to the well-connected in such harsh term that one member went before the City Council to complain he found it “disturbing and frankly a little bit frightening.”
Now, City Attorney Carmen “Nuch” Trutanich finds himself in a power struggle with City Controller Wendy Greuel in a replay of the yearlong fight between their predecessors, Rocky Delgadillo and Laura Chick.
Is this Rocky II? Is Nuch the tough sheriff trying to clean up Deadwood and its outlaw City Hall? Or a gunslinger riding into a new town and making his mark no matter who gets hurt?
In office just two weeks, Trutanich has stirred more controversy than most LA elected officials in their whole careers (Michael Jackson, Planning Commission, Wendy Greuel)..
The latest flap with Greuel is the most intriguing although it’s far from clear at this point whether it’s the opening round of what will be a long fight or just a misunderstanding that will disappear as quickly as it began.
The heart of the matter is Chick’s attempt to audit the City Attorney’s worker compensation claims management system, an effort undertaken in the belief millions of dollars were being wasted. Delgadillo sued her on behalf of the city after she issued subpoenas to his staff, arguing the Controller overstepped her authority under the City Charter and lacks the power to audit the activities of elected officials.
During their campaigns, both Trutanich and Greuel promised to resolve the dispute one way or another to ensure the Controller got the full authority that Chick wanted. But that hasn’t proved so easy to deliver since the case was already before a judge who just ruled tentatively the Charter does not give the Controller the authority Chick wanted.
Greuel wasn’t happy with Trutanich over how he handled this. She had wanted him to go to court with her before they were sworn in and tell the judge they were on the same side but he balked, arguing that even if he were in office, he could not act unilaterally without the Council’s permission.
After the judge ruled, Chick’s attorney Fred Woocher sent a letter on behalf on Greuel seeking a stipulated agreement establishing the Controller’s authority.
The lawyer handling the case in the City Attorney’s office, Valerie Flores, sent back a letter on Friday saying Woocher didn’t know what he was talking about (trutanichletter.pdf) since the lawsuit was against Chick, not the Controller’s office, so Greuel isn’t a party to it and Woocher represents Chick, not Greuel.
That didn’t sit well with Greuel who fired back a letter (greuelTrutanich.pdf) on Tuesday to Trutanich saying that she was “dismayed” by his failure to live up to his promises and threatened to take the issue to voters if he didn’t.
“I am the voice at this point in time to say we need to protect taxpayers’ dollars,” Greuel told the Times Wednesday.
Who could disagree with that. Let’s see how whether they move forward together in that direction or whether the fight between Trutanich and City Hall escalates.
Kaye, who are you trying to fool? The judge has already ruled on this matter, and ruled against the former Controller. The CONTROLLER HAS NO LEGAL RIGHT TO AUDIT THE CITY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE. It’s done. But, the hearing on Monday is only procedural, to hear whether to temporarily delay the recording of the matter in the books.
WHO ARE THEY TRYING TO FOOL? WHO ARE THEY TRYING TO CON? IF “GREUEL” WANTS TO AUDIT “TRUTANICH”, THEN ASK. “TRUTANICH” HAS THE RIGHT, BY LAW, TO SAY NO. IF HE SAYS YES, THEN “GREUEL” CAN AUDIT.
note: substitute the words “CITY ATTORNEY” for “TRUTANICH” and substitute the words “CITY CONTROLLER” for “GREUEL”, if needed by the mentally challenged.
While she is investigating the City Attorney’s office, she might stop by Villaraigosa’s office to investigate his office and campaign funds and how he supports his life style, especially all the very fine wine.
George W. Bush, move over. You’re not the only one who speaks IDIOTSPEAK. MEET SOTOMAYOR.
http://patterico.com/2009/07/15/sotomayorisms-you-like-suck-at-talking-your-imminence/
Sotomayorisms: You, Like, Suck at Talking, Your Imminence; UPDATED With More Idiotspeak
In the Judiciary, a professional that requires precising in using the English language, Judge Sotomayor lacks that precision.
Not to worry about Sotomayor, we’ll soon become a Mexican annex, anyway. Spanglish will be the language of our judiciary.
No, it’s not disgraceful.
Like 6:52 says, who are you to question the Almighty Trutanich? And if you do we’ll call you a fool, idiot and a bought and sold shill for Phony Villar. That’s how they always roll.
Interesting how all your readers and those on the anti-Antonio blogs were unanimously riled up in favor of supporting Chick vs. Delgadillo, and heaped abuse on anyone who didn’t side with her — even on those who did in principle, but said they should work it out between them with mediation from the council, to save us money on a lawsuit.
Now that Trutanich is clearly going back on his word and promise, made the very day before the election (as Doug reminded his listeners today, with Greuel as a guest), to support transparency allowing the Controller to audit any office starting with his own any time she wanted, his fanatical supporters attack those who want to hold him to it.
Like all the papers and Greuel say, “inviting” her to audit his office now that he’s just assumed office and the mess would be all Delgadillo’s, but not supporting her right to do so anytime in future when it’s HIS mess, is a flatout lie to the voters, and supports critics who point out that he’s been far less than transparent in the past about his dealings while Executive Special Asst. to Delgadillo or in his dealings on behalf of private clients using his influence in the DA’s office. Even limiting it to financial issues, his claims that he’d pay for the new 200-person police force he wants to create within the City Attorney’s office to “police the police” as a top priority are highly speculative and specious, and might not bear scrutiny from the Controller down the line.
There’s no doubt that there’s confusion at City Hall between Perry as Acting Mayor and the Mayor himself and his own staff (who claim they were just supporting Perry’s idea starting the PayPal scheme that backfired), and that voters want them to clarify when an event is strictly a private funeral and when it’s a memorial “show” for profit, that’s handled more like a concert.
But there too, when Trutanich blasted into City Hall to blast the Council and tell them he was calling them on the carpet in a few days, he did not acknowledge that Wendy had already addressed all his concerns in letters to the Mayor, Eric Garcetti and Parks as head of Budget Committee. She did this in a way so as not to embarrass the city or her colleagues OR AEG or the Jacksons — the usual “political” way, that apparently Trutanich thinks is evidence of cover-up instead of civility. In the process he’s inspired a hatred of AEG which the talkshows are turning into an all-out boycott and tea party, NOT good for LA’s image when it comes to treating business. Now, anyone will think twice about holding a major event here.
Greuel was already doing HER job as Controller and by not checking with her in advance or giving her the respect due, he crossed boundaries with her AND with the Council — which sets policy, NOT the City Attorney. That’s something he doesn’t understand and has riled councilmembers, too. NOtably their grousing about him has been a lot more low-key and civilized than he has been to them, despite being a newcomer.
He even attacked volunteer commissioners who’d been acting in concert with approval, certainly not disapproval, from the City Attorney’s office — until Trutanich arbitrarily implied he’d sue them. (Similar to what Wendy says, that he did a sudden about-face with her after months of telling her the opposite to her face: now, he’s saying she doesn’t have a right to even participate in the suit, since Chick acted as a private individual, as did Delgadillo, which is absurd.) Agreeing or not with the Planning Commission’s decision is NOT the point here, it’s the utter lack of decorum and class that he shares with Dennis Zine, his puppet and friend.
Trutanich is a hero to his rightwing fans and listeners of talk radio whose hatred of anything Democrat or Antonio exceeds logic, but that’s not acceptable for an elected official. But why is his behavior such a shock to anyone?
Anonymous 8:19, you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Trutanich hasn’t gone back on his word.
He has always said he’s open to an audit by Wendy Greuel. It was true during his campaign and it is true now.
As was reported in the press today, the only way he can seek a dismissal is to get the city council’s approval to do so. They are his client.
Trutanich is not a right winger.
He’s a populist bull in a pay-to-play city hall china shop.
He’s not going along to get along. And the status quo politicos and their hacks don’t like that.
Well too bad. It’s a new day at city hall. Deal with it.
Mary Cummins posted most of the ugly messages here, even answering herself. Total lunatic.
To Jack Weiss at 8:16 – I’m a dem and I LOVE NUCH. So piss off.
Trutanich does appear to be backing off his promise. How many attorneys does the city attorney need to serve the City? I’ll bet the correct answer is a lot less than he currently has.
How about Ms. Greuel investigate the expenditure of City money on police and fire department overtime?
After listening to Gruel this AM, I think it is politics as usual. Support the good ole boys club the best you can.
The real issue is simply this. Yes, Trutanich’
bills for the running the office will be his. This issue is all about Delgadillo and I say, Guel go to work on those books and pronto and quit stalling. TH
Trutanich is keeping his promise to CONFRONT the comfortable little hole of incest known as LA City Hall. He will make some mistakes along the way but I think he is a breath of fresh air that has the status quo WHORES running away like cry babies.
Greuel knows his hands are somewhat tied on this audit thing.
Greuel knows she can’t legally become a party to the lawsuit.
Greuel knows Trutanich is doing everything he can to make her audit of his office happen, as he pledged in his campaign.
She is just trying to gin up her campaign for mayor on the back of the city attorney.
She needs a foil and has gone after Trutanich. That’s a mistake.
Am i the only one upset at what Trutanich said at the Tom Bradley room the other day?
He made sexist jokes, used poor form regarding Michael Jackson an LA resident who passed away and made a immature joke about porta potties.
I went there to learn more about Trutanich and hopefully support him, but he thinks its ok to demean women then I can never support him.
It’s like this guy is a right-wing nut in sheeps clothing — I mean he was a registered republican before he switched to DTS and he did carpet bag into the city after being a resident of Long Beach for 25 years.
Yuck!
what did Trutanich say at Tom Bradley, and what event was this?
Greuel is throwing up a smoke screen. Do you really believe that Greuel wants to expose the Villaraigosa croney malfeasances? No, she’s a Villaraigosa shill. You’ll only see some future, insignificant audits out of her. She won’t make a credible effort.
If she want’s to be a true crusader, Greuel needs to express in public that she wants to audit the City Attorney’s Office, what she wants made available, and what date that she wants to start. That’s proof that an audit is what she really wants. Instead, Greuel asked in public for a withdrawal of a court case, originated by former Controller Chick. This is a red herring. She doesn’t need the court case or it’s withdrawal. Again, it’s a decoy.
What’s Trutanich’s role in this? Who knows? Is he also in on this sham? Maybe. Trutanich needs to express in public when he will allow the Controller access to the City Attorney’s Office files. Else, he’s part of this sham, and has betrayed his oath to the voters.
Somewhere, in all the spin that are these comments, the salient fact remains: Nuch was more than willing to appear ex parte to ask for an extension but there is a procedural legal issue regarding standing and Ms. Greuel.
Bottom line: do we want the city attorney to uphold the law or only those parts of it we like?
Even “Nuch’s” opponents concede that he is an extremely competent attorney. And, I trust his legal judgment on legal matters much more than Ms. Greuel’s or others who are attempting to make this political.
Trutanich got his law degree from someplace called “South Bay University College of Law.” Needless to say it’s hardly known as a breeding ground for astute legal minds, and no one has even heard of the place.
This school does NOT appear on his Wikipedia, which declares his USC degree and that “Trutanich went on to law school” after that, or ANY of his professional bios. It did manage to find its way onto the Townhall organization’s website, but is carefully and obviously pointedly avoided by Trutanich everywhere else.
2:35′s denigration of where Nuch went to law school reminds me of the idiots who are questioning what Sotomayer’s LSAT scores were.
There’s a reason why his legal peers voted him a “super lawyer” for 4 years and it had nothing to do with where he went to law school 21 years ago.
Go ahead: go toe to toe with him on legal matters and see who hits the floor.
The City Attorney appears to be following correct legal procedure. A reading of his letter clearly states that he wants the Judge to stay the entering of judgment so that the City Attorney and Controller can settle the matter themselves. There should be no hand wringing or wailing over this. Trutanich has pledged to allow the Controller to audit the books on workers comp, but first the lawsuit must be properly disposed of while he protects the integrity of the office. I think we have the potential for a GREAT City Attorney that will help restore L.A.
Hey anonymous 2:35…why don’t you check Trutanich’s Martindale Hubbell rating? I’ll save you the trouble. It’s an AV…the highest possible rating for a lawyer.
More chest-thumping and classy “hits the floor” and we’ll show you talk from the Trutanich camp.
If he’s so proud of his law school, why doesn’t he even allow it on his Wiki or bios, why hide it? And no he has not proven himself “smarter” than the lawyers from name law schools — he proved himself out of his league with Erwin Chemerinsky the dean of UCI Law school, and when his touted “legal codes” were exposed as his misreadings or just plain made up, he resorted to trying to just declaring to tv interviewer John North that Chemerinsky and the heads of the Bar Assn. etc. who’d caught him in his own web “just haven’t studied the issue as carefully as I have.” This would all be laughable if it weren’t so real — but I’m not complaining, he’s giving us a good show.
And with all due respect to Michael Cohen etc., his “inviting” Greuel to audit Rocky’s worker’s comp program is NOT what he promised right upto the day before the campaign and to her explicitly, that based on HIS reading of the law he was vowing to let her audit any dept. any time she wants as a matter of principle, regardless of what the legal ruling would be. This must be a matter of principle exercised at HER discretion as Controller, not whether and when he deigns to “invite” her and under what limited circumstances.
Remember, he’s already declared himself smarter than the most highly respected legal scholars, and issued his own intepretation of the law, so he should now stick by his own promises.
Ron, Trutanich may be grandstanding. It is not enough. He needs to dance on his head to get the attention of the knuckleheads in control of City Hall. The letter sent to City Planning Commission was a message to everyone in City Hall; no more business as usual. It is working. That is why you have morons like Reyes and Perry writhing in agony, and crying that they make the policy and not City Attorney. It is because of their “policies”, whatever they are, that our city looks like crap. As for the current Planning Commission, it would behoove you to study the backgrounds of some of them, and you would realize they are sheep in wolf’s clothing, pretending to do public service. If they feel so attacked by the City Attorney for doing the good, then quit. Noone is asking them to suffer. Is anyone there from a Neighborhood Council to give the community viewpoint and balance this commission?
Going back to the Council; despite the City Attorney’s “grandstanding”, we have Alarcon wanting to allow hundreds of electronic billboards in the suburban communities of Sylmar and Arleta. This is the intellect and integrity one has to deal with. There is no revenue for the city. Then why promote more billboards. Who gains? It was not enough that Padilla ruined these beuatiful suburban, equestrian communities with corrupt development (Newsome, you lost many votes with his appointment to your campaign), and what was left of the beauty, Alarcon will blight it with the billboards.
How about Huizar, who ignored City Attorney advice to cost the city more than $8 million on the Elephant Hill case. Is he going to pay that out of his pocket? Whom he benefited, we will never know. Why should the City taxpayers pick up the tab for this man’s folly? There are dozens and dozens of such idiotic decisions made by our esteemed politicans, if you care to investigate them.
So going back to our City Attorney, the message he delivered to City Hall via the Planning Commission was long over due. Just as no one knew what a City Controller did, till Laura Chick made it prominent enough for Wendy Gruel to grab it, no one knew or cared that City Attorney was an elected position or what it did. But everyone knew the power of Council members, even though individually they “rule” small swaths of the city vs. the citywide elected position of City Attorney and Controller. While we expect little of Gruel, who is an insider thru and thru, we all support Trutanich, who needs to exert his power and let everyone know that he was elected citywide than the small areas those worthless councilmembers represent.
Frankly, most of us would prefer less grandstanding, and more of these “policy makers” behind bars. So Trutanich, grandstand all the way, but do deliver.
Really, 5:01, your pathetic spin is just more of the same sore loser spite that we have heard all too often since the election.
Dean Chemerinsky is renowned as a constitutional law scholar, not legal ethics, and his opinion regarding the releasing of Trutanich’s past client list is certainly not definitive.
In fact, when it comes to legal ethics, Chemerinsky himself raised more than eyebrows with his attack on Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late last year which “epitomizes what a lawyer should not do”, according to other prominent members of the bar in the National Law Journal November 24, 2008.
“To make it worse, Chemerinsky, supposedly commenting on a speech given by Jacobs, totally misrepresented what Jacobs in fact said. In this regard, Rule 8.2 of the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct states that a “lawyer shall not make a statement that the lawyer knows to be false or with reckless disregard as to the truth or falsity concerning the qualifications or integrity of a judge.”
KK, you’re simply quoting from an Opinion in that journal, submitted by someone who has a beef with Cherminsky’s politics and was seen as a partisan slam, but it’s within the context of pure opinion; the legal code you quote is used by Kuntz (partner in a law firm, not with any academic standing per se) just as it applies to whether judges can reply to criticism, not to the substance itself. His inability to refute Chemerinsky’s et al analysis is self-evident, which is why he and Usher actually lied to John North that Chemerinsky actually supported them, until North pointed out otherwise causing him to just try to bluff his way as usual with “they haven’t thought about it as deeply as I have.” This is not the only time he confounded other lawyers with his alleged “mastery” on the grounds that his interpretation is just specious.
The fact is that you people knock yourselves out making excuses for someone whose legal, “ethical” and intellectual high ground is almost as laughable as his night law school, which existed for a few years before going defunct, and is of such status he refuses to put it in his bio.
These comments are of the calibre of, “we would prefer less grandstanding, and more of these ‘policy makers’ behind bars.” And, “he has the status quo WHORES running away like cry babies.” Or, an admission that y’all were always about revenge vs. Delgadillo and Villar etc., NOT about integrity or principles, like, TH: “And yes, Trutanich’ bills for running the office will be all his. This is all about Delgadillo.” Then there’s 11:16′s not-so-veiled threat to Greuel that “going after Trutanich” as they call her trying to get him to honor his repeated promises, “is a mistake.” And few can top the first one, a truly ignorant and stupid post IN CAPS addressed to “the mentally challenged,” including Ron Kaye.
Clearly a group representing the lowest common denominator has found its intellectual champion.
This is so funny. KK and 9:27 P.M. is the same person, a raving lunatic carrying on a nonsensical conversation about nothing worthwhile.
C’mon, 9:50…my writing is never that dull
Trutanich on Doug this morning for over a full half hour. Didn’t do himself any favors, came off like he was “putting up smokescreens,” “Did we really elect this guy, or is he some bureaucrat?” and left even Doug flummoxed with his claims that Chick’s lawyers — which he had agreed running for office were fighters for transparency — were not just money-grubbers to whom he refused to pay their fees of $100,000 as “the city’s watchdog.” Which of course is Wendy’s role as his client — but he says his ultimate client is the city council, and she’s not even allowed to be a plaintiff.
Although as Doug read from the lawsuit, Chick was a litigant “in her capacity as City Controller.” Doug offered to kick in the first hundred bucks himself if Trutanich is so worried about the hundred grand, and it seemed clear to him and to all but one of the callers that Trutanich was backtracking behind various excuses.
Clearly from his tone, Trutanich hadn’t expected to be questioned so closely, as though once he got elected his word wouldn’t be questioned. He seems to just be realizing that since he wanted to be in the club of the elected, scrutiny and skepticism goes with the job, and if he gets even a sliver of what Villar etc. get, a good soupcon of derision thrown into the pot for spice. He’s still on his honeymoon.
Trutanich is a crook. His reasoning for proceeding in this obstructive manner is bogus.
He should drop the case, which would render the ruling null. Greuel should then do her audit as she pleases.
This is the cleanest manner to enable the action of Trutanich’s promise to the voters, which was “transparent government”.
What I heard from the interview is that neither Doug nor Nuch is happy with the ruling that the City Charter does not give power to the Controller to audit elected officials departments.
It isn’t simply a matter of dismissing the lawsuit. One of the issues standing in the way of that is the question of legal fees.
In December, 2008, Chick went to the mayor and city council to ask for $100,000 to pay for outside council to represent her in her fight with the City of Los Angeles in this dispute. The council turned her down. Chick warned that her lawyer, Fred Woocher, would work pro bono and then sue the city to recoup his legal fees.
The problem is that the judge ruled in favor of the City of Los Angeles and against Chick’s position.. Now, we have a new city attorney, who like Chick & Wendy Greuel, is in favor of giving the controller the power to audit electeds’offices.
Despite his personal views, Trutunich is obligated as the city attorney, whose client,the City Council, specifically TURNED DOWN the request for payment of those fees.
For the city attorney to now authorize using City money to pay the fees of the losing side, would be a terrible precedent, a misuse of taxpayer’s funds, and, according to Nuch, a breach of his professional obligations.
I wish I had access to the interview as there was another point that Nuch was emphasizing which I can’t remember off hand.
There was some discussion as to the legal standing that Wendy has now on this issue as city controller. The judge ruled that Chick had overstepped her authority as granted by the city charter. As the city attorney sees it, because Wendy has not overstepped her authority in this case, she does not step into Laura’s position vis a vis this lawsuit and Laura remains the only defendant.
Yes, the legal system can seem to be frustrating and arcane, but I would rather be governed by a rule of law rather than by what some people think is best (even when I agree with them.).
To criticize Trutanich for living up to the obligations of his office to me is shortsighted and unfair.
Nuch was aware of the ramifactions of Chick’s lawsuit when he made his campaign pledges over and over, or at least should have been. He had plenty of time to research and if he wasn’t sure, since the outcome of the suit was open, shouldn’t have made explicit promises.
This does NOT open the door to all future suits as a precedent, since it is a unique case where Nuch made specific promises to Chick AND Greuel, and to their attorney (same guy), who like Doug says, was doing nothing different than he is now, that Nuch is speaking very dismissively and derogatorily about him. And for him to start the interview with a typically theatrical “so whip out your checkbook and give me a hundred thousand dollars” set a dismissive tone, too, that Doug and the audience reacted to. I’m with Doug that this would be $100,000 well-spent: when Chick went to the Council, she and the lawyer wanted an open-ended amount, that could have been way in excess of $100,000. For the lawyer to submit a bill that low is surprising, in fact, and more than reasonable in principle.
Because Chick’s demand for legal fees was open- ended and because the Council advised her to sit down with Rocky and work things out with their mediation for another month or so, but she refused, the Council’s hands were pretty much forced at the time. NOW Trutanich said the same thing, that the two should have worked it out without incurring legal fees: what many people advised Chick at the time, since as fiscal watchdog she should have known better. Later, Greuel wanted to drop the suit for this reason AND the key fact that there is no longer and difference of opinion between the Controller and the City Attorney, allegedly — which precipated the lawsuit scuffle.
HOWEVER I recall (a little search on this site can answer it for sure) that there was a pro-Chick faction including this site and Ron, who said that was just a stalling tactic by the Council, and they should just pay her legal fee.
Also, Trutanich told Doug that he’d prefer to advise Council to put the issue on the ballot as a Charter Amendment: BUT that could cost upwards of a $1 million dollars and was explicitly rejected by Chick and the Council, including Greuel, for that reason. So that’s the ultimate cop-out and makes no sense at all, either from an ethical or financial point of view.
It shouldn’t cost $1 Million to put a item on the Ballot. I believe in mid-2006 the California League of Women Voters, or some such group, at the request of the City Council who wanted to extend their term of office, submitted to the Council an item for consideration. The Council received, accepted and approved what would become Proposition R. Remember that one? Ethics, ethics, ethics and we want another four years. Totally an un-Constitutional item, in as much as two unrelated items were put in one ballot measure.
If they put Prop R on the ballot, why can’t they do it again? I’m sure a Lawyer on his coffee break could write the simple language that says: the City Controller may audit any elected City Official’s activities if they deem it necessary. I don’t see why the City Council wouldn’t want to approve an item that would allow them to operate in a more transparent manner.
That doesn’t cost $1,000,000.
R2b, even if it cost less and was combined with other ballot initiatives, the point is that Council AND Chick expressly did NOT want to wait to put it even on the May ballot, because she argued that was too close to when they’d all be termed out. Also since Nuch won’t pay the extremely modest $100,000 legal fee the Controllers accrued so far even though he supported the suit in principle and ran on that, it would be irresponsible to stiff that lawyer (who he dismissed as a money grubber, ticking off even Doug) and then spend the money on a special election that could have been held a year or two earlier.
Let’s NOT let Nuch distract us with the red herring of quibbling over $100,000 etc., this is the PRINCIPLE that as a lawyer who had months to review the case, he made explicit promises he needs to facilitate not look for excuses to avoid.
Your final sentence of accusing only the council of not operating in a “more transparent manner” is another way to deflect from the REAL issue.
(In fact, if you really don’t trust the council, then leaving it to them to put the matter on the ballot makes even less sense – some may in fact not want to allow Greuel/the Controller the right to audit all their programs, e.g. Alarcon argued that he had no problem with being audited but not by another elected official like the Controller — he’s prefer an outside agency. There were other quibbles raised as I recall between what is a financial matter that could fall under the Controller’s purview, and what are “performance audits” which are subjective, some argued. Nuch could give her that broader right that Chick sought.)
However, as Doug said, without the right to this audit, the Controller’s office is gutted to where it’s really meaningless — it cannot be a matter of being “invited” to audit certain depts. within certain parameters, but at the Controller’s discretion.
Nuch has said that if Wendy wishes to audit the city attorney’s office ( I am assuming on the workman’s comp issue as well as others), she is welcome.
Isn’t this evidence that in least in the area over which he exercises control, he welcomes any kind of public scrutiny? Isn’t this concrete evidence of a breaking with the past?
Even Wendy in her letter to Trutanich acknowledges that this is a standing offer, but as she says, “there is a bigger issue involved”.
What surprises me is why McIntyre didn’t ask Trutanich what he thinks can be done when the procedural issues are out of the way. Does he believe, for example, that only an amendment to the city charter will solve the problem?
Doug seemed more interested in busting Nuch’s chops rather than eliciting his thinking on this matter. Nuance, after all, doesn’t attract the same attention.
Maybe Doug’s BS Meter is just finally going off. It’s about time someone’s is.
Nobody cares what that nitwit KK, upper or lower case, as well as her alter ego replys, believe in those long winded rambles. My gosh, what a bunch of …
IF TRUTANICH HAD ANY BALZ he would let the CITY CONTROLLER audit, regardless of the court case. It’s his call. Still, drop the case in the name of transparency. He’s afraid though, and muttered under his breath during the McIntyre interview, “It’s like letting the IRS into your house”. Let her audit. It’s his office, and he can declare a need for the City Controller to audit, if he so wishes.
It’s a big sham, anyway. Understand for the next time around, the deck is stacked against.
If Greuel tries to audit another ELECTED CITY OFFICIAL, SHE WILL BE STOPPED. The same thing will occur. Someone will take her to court. The JUDGE WILL RULE AGAINST THE CONTROLLER, AGAIN FOR THE SAME REASONS.. DUH.
The City Charter is quite clear. The City Controller can only audit CITY DEPARTMENTS, not elected City Officials’ Offices.
CHANGE THE CITY CHARTER. HAH, that gives the phoney, two-faced POLITICIANS the opportunity to insert more SPECIAL INTEREST GIVEAWAYS.
The deck is stacked against us.
Reading the posts here, two things are clear. First, the anti Trutanich blogger is still suffering from multiple personality disorder. The overly long posts laced with venom are so similar and unoriginal that they are as phony as the defeated Jack Weiss’s failed campaign rhetoric. Thinking people (the bane of Jack Weiss) recognize these posts for what they are – sour grapes from Jack Weiss.
Second, and more importantly, Trutanich is living up to his promise to be a lawyer not a politician. The east route would be to simply dismiss the lawsuit, pay the $100k in legal fees to the LOOSER and wait for the Controller to try to force an audit on a different elected official and then waste more money defending the inevitable lawsuit.
Laura Chick herself recognized that giving the Controller the power to conduct Performance Audits on programs run by elected officials would require a Charter amendment. Her attempt to end run the Charter was doomed from day one and had more to do with grandstanding than legal principle.
The mess that Chick left behind is a $100k legal fee that she does not want to pay, but as a ‘fiscally responsible’ person, she wants us to pay. Since when does the looser get her legal fees paid?
Once people realize that the only solution is a Charter amendment, then we can get on with forcing more transparency on the City. Trutanich, for his part, still insists that the Controller is welcome to perform an audit on the Worker Compensation program, and any other part of his office. That was what he said during the campaign, and it has not changed. Trutanich has also stated that he will stand alongside the Controller in an effort, either before the Council or in a Ballot Initiative, to amend the Charter to give the Controller the power and right to audit.
2:06 makes no sense and is a lame attempt to blame Laura Chick as the “looser” when in fact, Trutanich explicitly supported her position to get her endorsement.
3:52 might want to consider a remedial reading comprehension class.
Kevin James has been depicting Greuel and Chick as the village idiots, in sharp contrast to the way Chick was called “the only honest politician” when she was perceived to be going against everyone else. At the time, the fact that only Greuel voted to authorize her to hire outside legal counsel and cover her fees in response to Rocky’s suit, a 14:1 vote according to him, all the OTHERS were accused of trying to cover up and these two
“chicks” were the heroines of the day. Trutanich explicitly sided with Chick for her endorsement, and stood in a photo op with her, made his position clear all over the media including to Doug McIntyre who has the tape of the day before.
Now that Trutanich has done an about-face these two women and their lawyer with his modest fees are depicted scathingly, joining the James pantheon of “birdbrain” Janice Hahn and “stupid, idiot, moron” Jan Perry. It’s definitely sexism and a turning the tables upside down to suit his pre-determined conclusion that Trutanich is always right because he’s on the “right.” Deny that all he wants, when he’s always on the show saying the stuff he does to James.
Since I can’t stand the numbersusa crowd that James so actively supports and even gathers petition signatures for I’m not one of his brainwashed masses and find it encouraging that Doug actually is trying to be more logical than dogmatic — pushing a wolf in sheep’s clothing as many have done can only fool even people who think the council and mayor are generally fools for so long.