City Attorney Carmen Trutanich told the City Council Tuesday that his investigation of how the city became liable for the cost of the Michael Jackson funeral at Staples Center has taken a surprising turn.
He said the investigation could lead to civil and criminal charges, adding the Denver billionaire Phil Anschutz’s company, AEG, owner of Staples and LA Live, has been asked to turn over various documents.
After reading his 5-minute statement, Trutanich went into closed session for more than an hour with the Council to discuss the civil case.
The council is expected to order a thorough audit of all city expenses for the memorial, and members specifically want to know why the city paid $48,826 for the 3,500 lunches handed out to police officers providing security and may also establish policies that dictate how much the city will spend on such “extraordinary, non-emergency, multi-departmental, large-scale events,” the Times says.
Councilwoman Janice Hahn calling for a complete accounting of the tourism benefits derived from the memorial. Hahn said the memorial promoted Los Angeles as a global destination for Jackson fans.
Ron or anyone out there please please help me with this.
How can a “Crime” (please cit the law) occur with the Michael Jackson death?
I mean the man passed away —
Family and friends organize a tribute –
Coordinate with the Dodgers for ticket pick up — no permit needed there.
Press accounts start coming in that 250-500k people are expected —
LAPD reads reports and begins to prepare for what could be a nightmare of a crowd in downtown LA.
Memorial occurs –
Crowd never materializes –
LAPD releases many officers to go home —
City had to pay out $1.4 million dollars out of its budgetted emergency fund —
Sandwiches were apparently eaten as well –
Now perhaps I am a logical person, perhaps i don’t see aliens outside my backyard, but can someone please show me where the “crime” is.
Thanks
Trutanich is a grandstanding moron. He’s already tried and convicted the mayor and councilmembers as “corrupt” all over talk radio and the media just because they’ve gotten contributions from AEG in the past, just like from lots of other companies. His entire election was a pure vendetta just like his friend and now key team member David Berger’s, and Cooley never hid his real agenda either.
In three weeks, he’s threatened the CRA volunteer commissioners with lawsuits for not bowing down to him for no compelling reason, discouraging people from wanting to serve the city with that loose cannon cowboy to contend with; he’s reneged on his promise to Laura Chick, not needing her after he got her endorsement – in fact, with Kevin James throwing her under the bus as an idiot along with Wendy Greuel.
He’s turned AEG into a stock villain and asserted fraud based on nothing more than innuendo, alienating all big business and making them think twice about holding any big event in L A.
He barged into Council last week accusing LAPD of fraud and abuse, for “spending $10,000 per person to police the 2500 people who showed up without tickets,” as though preparing for and deterring the hundreds of thousands who’d been anticipated were a crime and not just superbly preventive policing. One major lawsuit would have cost far more, look at May Day and even the Lakers victory riots.
Even Sandwichgate is costing more to investigate than the difference between 3500 cheaper boxed meals and what was paid — establish future procedures to eliminate all this confusion, but grandstanding like this is just appalling.
I’m with 5:29 on all this. Makes no sense, except to look at it as grandstanding to carry out the vendetta he ran on.
@ July 21, 2009 5:29 PM : ….
Ron or anyone out there please please help me with this.
Try to understand the following.
How can a “Crime” (please cit the law) occur with the Michael Jackson death?
Nobody claims that MJ’s death is being investigated by the City Attorney.
I mean the man passed away —
Family and friends organize a tribute –
Coordinate with the Dodgers for ticket pick up — no permit needed there.
You lack the facts. The Staples Center event was a commercial activity. AEG claimed that it was a public event. Special events, ie. obviously this public event, in the City of Los Angeles requires a permit, obtained through the LAPD.
http://www.lapdonline.org/search_results/content_basic_view/6521
It says, “The Special Events Permit Unit (SEPU) within Emergency Operations Division of the Los Angeles Police Department accepts Special Event Permit Applications for events such as parades, marches, demonstrations, processions and assemblies in public places which impact the normal and usual traffic regulations and controls.”
Press accounts start coming in that 250-500k people are expected —
The Press’s opinion is irrelevant to the independent assessments of the LAPD and City Government regarding public safety.
LAPD reads reports and begins to prepare for what could be a nightmare of a crowd in downtown LA.
Memorial occurs –
Crowd never materializes –
LAPD releases many officers to go home —
City had to pay out $1.4 million dollars out of its budgetted emergency fund —
Sandwiches were apparently eaten as well –
The City Attorney’s investigation will determine if malfeasance is indicated. Illegal use of public moneys, according to the law, is obviously the target of the investigation.
Now perhaps I am a logical person, perhaps i don’t see aliens outside my backyard, but can someone please show me where the “crime” is.
Did you understand anything of the above. If not, you’re not a logical person.
Here’s the problem of how this transpired:
1. The initial approval of permits by the Mayor’s office and statements by Jan Perry filling in for the Mayor.
2. Additional statements made by Jan Perry, Janice Hahn, the Mayor, and any other elected official or employee of the City.
These are public funds, not the personal funds of the elected officials mentioned above. The statements made by those officials that the City is going and should pay for the costs, put the City at a disadvantage legally and harms any attempts by the City Attorney to get partial or full reimbursement of expenses directly associated with the event.
It’s not the City Attorney’s job to SET policy and the council — except the stupidest ones sucking upto him because they’re cowards — are determined to remind him of that. He’s too much of a neophyte to know what IS and is not in his purview so he’s just an embarrassing blowhard, blaming and making look bad everyone from the councilmembers especially Acting Mayor Perry and the Mayor’s office (but NOT his buddy and puppet Zine, who was second in command to Perry) to trying and convicting the Mayor, AEG and most councilmembers of collusion and fraud to the media, especially on talk radio shows like Jon/Ken and Kevin James and blogs etc.
BUT what’s on his side is that the Mayor and Council’s PR people are such idiots they never realized that Zine and Trutanich’s people including Campaign Mgr. John Thomas and now “team member” Berger have been publicly trashing and slandering not only Jack Weiss but increasingly directly the Mayor on these shows, their own blogs and elsewhere. You don’t ignore bullies and try to “charm” them, you fight them. Matt Szabo isn’t exactly the formidable foe, he and the other Mayoral flacks seem out of his league with the openly crude rightwing crowd not playing a “gentleman’s game.” BUT if they wise up they’ll fight back because the ones who have undermined the city and created public villains are Trutanich/Zine and their cohorts.
Trutanich is a grandstanding moron? Hmm, let’s see. He passed the bar, the mayor tried 4 times and failed. He promised transparency and honesty, and in his first 21 days, he’s doing just that. He’s not rolling over on this and he should not.
Other than Denis Zine, the rest of the council are happy to waste $5m on helping AEG promote the Jackson World Tour, which reports now indicate will give AEG $50M in selling the video rights of the “memorial” as well as Jackson’s rehearsals at Staples Center.
In the meantime, in her first 21 days as controller, Wendy Greuel has done nothing about the audit she promised us of the City Attorney’s Office. All she’s done about the AEG/Jackson $5M bill, is question $17 sandwich boxes. Who is grandstanding?
Oh, let me correct myself, Greuel has done something in her first 21 days; she’s trying to stick the city with $100k in legal fees that her friend Laura Chick is responsible for when Chick tried to grandstand the audit of Delgadillo’s administration.
Nobody else but Trutanich and Zine seem to have the guts to stand up to the business as usual insider back-room dealing that has left our city with a half billion dollar deficit.
Trutanich isn’t going to be loved for saving LA from paying AEG’s $5M bill as long as there are a few desperate city hacks trying to hang on to the “fix is in” way they’ve been driving our city into bankruptcy. The problem for the hacks is that they’ve got nothing but venom and hatred, and when that doesn’t work, they’re trying to make it partisan; dems against reps.
Well, if you look at the polls on the whole AEG/Jackson issue, it seems that the desperate hacks are on the wrong side of the debate. The polls show 80% approval rating for Trutanich, 90% in favor of making AEG and the Jacksons pay for the memorial show. So, run around like the headless chickens that you are.
I feel like I wam watching the old comedy routine of “who is on first”
Trutanich says….”Our investigation has taken an unanticipated turn that raises both civil and criminal aspects,” Trutanich told the council Tuesday”
And then he says…”I don’t even know if there’s any crimes that have been committed,” Trutanich told reporters after he appeared before the council.
But Trutanich did get this “Trutanich investigates city’s role in Michael Jackson memorial
Los Angeles’ city attorney says there may be ‘criminal aspects’ to the planning of the event, which cost the city an estimated $1.4 million. The probe is ongoing.”
As the lead headline in the LA Times along with substantial TV coverage — so for the PR angle I give him an A.
For the complete 180 he did after he said is idiotic statement, he gets a typical “out-classed poluuter defending lawyer” again making an ass out of himself.
As for the the poster that wants to state that the Mayor didn’t pass the bar and Trutanich did — great! Mayor Bradley wasn’t a lawyer, Mayor Yorty wasn’t a lawyer and neither is Mayor Villaraigosa — so what.
And as for the former Jack Weiss aide that opines on here about Matt Szabo and company — listen — you name me one time where the Mayor has publicly made a remark with the politics of personal destruction and you will win a cookie. Villaraigosa either stays positive or doesn’t say anything at all — thats called being a statesman.
But again, i’d like reinsert my point — someone please point to me how an event that require NO PERMIT can somehow turn illegal.
6:34pm posted this article of city code:
“The Special Events Permit Unit (SEPU) within Emergency Operations Division of the Los Angeles Police Department accepts Special Event Permit Applications for events such as parades, marches, demonstrations, processions and assemblies in public places which impact the normal and usual traffic regulations and controls.”
GREAT — luckily for AEG the Staples Center is NOT a public place but a private entity. The people who DID NOT have a permit were the potentially 250k people that press and LAPD crowd estimates were initally reporting.
Well sherlock, when unpermitted crowd events like that happen around a PRIVATE ENTITY, its not the Staples center fault – they only admitted those with bracelets on thats it — it was not a public event if it was a limited/closed access event.
Get a life guys.
Anonymous on July 22, 2009 1:14 AM wrote: ” luckily for AEG the Staples Center is NOT a public place but a private entity. The people who DID NOT have a permit were the potentially 250k people that press and LAPD crowd estimates were initally reporting.”
I think they still had to get a permit. I know of other events at Staples that required a permit. I think one big difference between no permit and permit is the anticipated use of city resources, whether at private, public or commercial establishments. I’m just not sure what kind of permit would be required. The MJ event was expected to impact the usual flow of traffic and tax city resources beyond the norm. It was advertised as a public event. I think that because it was a “community” event, it was a special event.
On the other hand, the Farrah Fawcett funeral was considered (by Council) a special event, yet press releases stated it would be a private ceremony at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. I’m not sure why they had to get a special events permit, unless it’s required of all funerals.
I couldn’t find any Council file on the MJ event. Below is the Council doc on Farrah Fawcett’s funeral.
http://clkrep.lacity.org/granicus/2009/07072009_cal.htm
ITEM NO. (78)
09-1582
et al. MOTIONS relative to “Special Events” to be held in the various Council Districts.
Recommendations for Council action:
DECLARE the following community events as “Special Events”; APPROVE any temporary street closures as requested; and, INSTRUCT the involved City departments to perform such services as detailed the Council motions attached to the various listed Council files, including the waiver of fees, costs and requirements and other related issues, as specified:
09-1582
CD 9
a. MOTION (PERRY – ROSENDAHL) relative to declaring the Farrah Fawcett Services on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 a Special Event (fees and costs absorbed by the City = none submitted).
The vitriol of some of the “status quo” commenters shows that the new City attorney has struck a nerve. And for the few Council members who think that they are going to “put Trutanich in his place” are seeing that he is a fast learner — respectful of his role and the Council’s decision making power.
This case is symbolically important and the City Attorney must follow the threads — where ever they lead.
7:52 tells those trying to “put Trutanich in his place” that “he is a fast learner – respectful of his role and the Council’s decision making power.” Really? FAST, is he? RESPECTFUL? I don’t think so. The comment DOES reflect that what went on behind closed doors is more than just HIM chewing out the council — seems he got a little more BACK than he’d counted on when he called them on the carpet to appease the rightwing wingnuts and certain Republican fundraisers who pushed for his election.
He shot his mouth off, threw his “bombshell” and then ran and hid from the fallout, but he got his PR blitz, didn’t he? Even if it’s largely just to have everyone from legal analysts to the more thoughtful general public puzzled because there’s no likelihood that anyone could possibly have done anything “criminal” here. He’s way over his head and league in terms of legal knowledge AND decorum and class. The argument between whose legal education is less stellar, his with his literally fly-by-night law school that came and went in a matter of years and might even raise questions about accreditation, and the mayor’s, since he couldn’t pass the bar but at least his law school is still around and not downright ludicrous, is moot because as 1:14 says, the mayor didn’t run based on being a “top lawyer” as Trutanich did — while refusing to even put his law school’s name in his bio, in a glaring lack of the “transparency and ethics” he blabs about. (He who doth talk too much about his own “ethics” instead of demonstrating it…)
However, if 1:14 is a mayor PR person, I’d rethink the success of THEIR strategy so far in NOT addressing the negative spin coming out of the rightwing radio-world, especially when it includes elected officials he has to work with. That has helped create this mess by letting the general public believe their spin that AEG must pay and took advantage of the city, and that has further evolved into an outright belief that AEG AND the mayor are “crooked” and knowingly defrauded the taxpayers. Trutanich and Zine have fostered and milked that lie to the public.
Fact is the City Attorney’s ARE demoralized and embarrassed. (Did you see even their faces lately when forced to back up their shoot-from-the lip-and-think-later boss?) This guy is a PR-hound and as the shock has worn off, is a head-scratching laughingstock to the more savvy media. Sure he’ll keep getting his PR, but like a traffic accident you can’t help watching.
HOW many “bombshells” has he thrown out in 3 weeks, each more head-shaking than the last, and each based on his own confusion about the law and lack of legal scholarship when it comes to studying precedents before opening his mouth, prioritizing his bombastic politics first? Rocky was criticized because people hardly knew he was there most of the time — suddenly that part of his tenure doesn’t seem so bad.
LAURA CHICK LIVE THIS MORNING TO DOUG: “The City Attorney lied, and is not a man of his word…he is a demagogue who will say anything to get elected, and then go back on his word… he stood next to me and lied to get my support. He gave me his word that regardless of how the legal ruling came down, he’d issue a different ruling” allowing the Controller to audit his dept. at her discretion (NOT just right now as long as it’s limited to what’s left of Rocky’s tenure). “But he lied to get my support and votes, and I’ve told him that to his face.”
Chick is confident that the public will “see through this man, see that he’s a demagogue who will say anything to get elected, but is not a man of his word.” She kept repeating that he’s a demagogue and liar.
LOTS MORE HARSH WORDS BUT EVERYONE WHO KNEW “THE FIXER FROM SAN PEDRO” TOLD YA’ SO, LAURA.
Add this Controller mess to his gross mishandling of the Jackson/ AEG affair, the threats to the CRA commissioners and attempts to intimidate the Council and we have quite the trainwreck. I’m afraid he’s going to keep getting PR alright but not what he’s dreamed of.
No doubt these negative comments on Nuch is hitting a nerve. Watch the council members all squirm. I didn’t vote for Trutanich but will say how impressed I am that he’s not afraid to come out strong against the Mayor or council members. There’s a lot of gossip and rumors flying that this could be a criminal investigation of pay to play. Don’t forget AEG gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Mayor’s pet projects and donated to all 14 political campaigns of council members. Isn’t this the reason dumbo Janice Hahn is trying to save face and scurrying to find an excuse for the expense?
Trutanich better come up with something to back his “crime” comment or a lot of people will believe he is a grandstanding wind bag. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for now, but I’m skeptical.
The city Attorney only has jurisdiction over
misdemeanors and is not empowered to Investigate or prosecute felony charges.
Which begs the question, what “serious” crime is being investigated?
With this talk about “criminal” matters which would be felonies, which as commenters say are outside his jurisdiction, it suggests that “his” investigators are really also from or working with or for his friend the DA’s office. It’s no secret that Cooley recruited him to run and groomed him, got funds and endorsements for him, to carry out his own long-time mission to get inside, way inside City Hall to go after the Mayor, Council, City Attorney’s office and anything that’s left.
Cooley has been telling the talk shows this was a “race between good and evil,” more of the false demagoguery Chick refers to, and he and the rest of them did indeed say anything to win, slung unfounded accusations and just let the innuendo stick. And the media ate it up, didn’t even report on stuff readily known by colleagues and local South Bay media, who were as amazed as Trutanich himself that he got away with it all.
It was Cooley who was all over the talk shows even after the May elections insisting that he would personally ensure that Trutanich hung tough about demanding money to bring in his own personal staff of 8 people — while Trutanich had told Doug that if need be for budgetary reasons, he’d pick the best from among the 650 lawyers already on staff. Cooley said that was unacceptable — and if you look at the roster of who he brought in, they’re all older white men (one black man) who were often retired til now, people from Cooley’s office, former CIA/FBI/FEDs either hand-picked by or approved by Cooley.
(The money for this staff was “found” by taking it from a budget set aside for consumer protection, by the way.)
The only thing that could explain this bizarre behavior, is that it’s been Cooley’s agenda all along to “find” criminal intent in the Mayor’s office. After creating so much smoke and perception in the media that the AEG affair is “evidence of corruption” and “something else for the Antonio recall file” his people are keeping with James — through repetition and resonance in the talkradio world which doesn’t take much prompting to bash the mayor or anyone associated with him — copying their campaign playbook, he must have figured it was time to claim that they’d found the “smoking gun.”
I’d like to know WHO and HOW MANY this fleet of inspectors are he says he used to uncover this “criminal” activity, how much they cost — something else for the Controller Gruel to look into. Has the cost already exceeded any “savings” he’s claiming to recoup from AEG? In addition I’d guess there’s incalculable loss of business goodwill and potential investment from companies who may think twice about doing business with LA and our Mayor and Council, with this loose canon of a city attorney rampaging at whim. Or at the DA’s whim?
Does 9:01 get paid by the word?
9.01 and 12.04 writes the same craptrap in every newspaper and blog. Clearly being funded by someone. No LA resident has the time or energy to continue this kind of vitriolic attack against Trutanich.
Exposing fraud and abuse is a civic responsibility and Trutanich is Exhibit #1 in that regard.
July 15, 2009
AEG President Tim Leiweke Talks To John & Ken
Mr. Leiweke indicated AEG was $30 million in the hole.
http://podcast.com/episode/41170055/6024/
July 19, 2009
LA Times
Michael Jackson’s rehearsal footage: Everybody wants it
Over the weekend, Sony Pictures emerged as the front-runner in a frenzied bidding war to acquire Hollywood’s hottest entertainment property: the film rights to footage from Michael Jackson’s rehearsals for his “This Is It” comeback concert series.
According to sources close to the negotiations –who declined to be identified because they are not authorized to publicly discuss the matter — AEG Live, the concert promoter behind the superstar’s planned 50-date performance residency at London’s O2 Arena, offered the rights to some 1,200 hours of rehearsal footage to all the major movie studios last week. Sony, Fox, Paramount and Universal all submitted bids.
Although Fox and Universal still have bids under consideration, Sony’s aggressive $50-million offer — coupled with the fact that the global entertainment giant’s music division controls distribution of Jackson’s output as an adult solo performer and retains the right to block a competing studio from using his songs — put the studio in the strongest position, a source said Sunday.
(Skip)
It was not immediately clear who would produce or direct the movie. At a press conference earlier this month, AEG Live Chief Executive Randy Phillips said that Jackson’s estate would get the “lion’s share” of profits from any film made out of the rehearsal footage but that the concert promoter would also get a cut.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/07/over-the-weekend-sony-pictures-emerged-as-the-front-runner-in-a-frenzied-bidding-war-to-acquire-hollywoods-hottest-entert.html
July 15, 2009
LA Weekly
Michael Jackson: The Post-Mortem Spending Spree
(Skip)
Both Perry and Villaraigosa have many strong ties to AEG. The firm has showered Villaraigosa’s political initiatives with $150,000, backing the mayor’s successful push to significantly boost the city phone tax on residents, and supporting Villaraigosa’s failed bid to take over L.A. schools.
Both Perry and Villaraigosa are highly visible boosters of Anschutz and AEG president and CEO Tim Leiweke. Perry and Leiweke have breakfasted together, regularly chat and often publicly praise one another. On June 18, at a celebration of the Laker NBA Championship at the Coliseum, Perry went before a crowd of 80,000 — and thanked her friend Tim Leiweke. Earlier in June, she joined Villaraigosa in announcing that the NBA’s All-Star Game would come to Los Angeles in 2011 — and she again thanked Leiweke and AEG.
Perry’s support for Leiweke and Anschutz has created a persistent City Hall rumor: that Proposition R, approved by Los Angeles voters in 2006, which allowed the council members to remain in office for 12 instead of eight years, was initiated to keep Perry in power — so she can continue supporting AEG’s interests.
http://www.laweekly.com/2009-07-16/la-vida/michael-jackson-spending-spree/1
Whoever is funding them clearly isn’t getting good return on the dollar.
10.11 p.m., commend you for taking your civic responsibilities so seriously. Considering Trutanich has been in office only 3 weeks, would like to direct your attention to the Mayor and 15 councilmembers. You should find enough there to keep you busy for several months. We are behind you, and support like-minded individuals.
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