Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen “Nuch” Trutanich found himself under fire today from a campaign supporter, former Controller Laura Chick, who accused him of being a liar and a “demagogue.”
Chick, now Inspector General for federal stimulus spending for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, was interviewed on KABC Morning Talk Show Host Doug McIntyre’s show.
A reader supplied this transcript, confirmed by Mcintyre, regarding Trutanich’s promise to reverse former City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo’s legal opinion limiting the City Controller’s authority to conduct audits of other city officials::
“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.
Chick said she hopes 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.”
Here’s an excerpt of the interview as it aired and one replayed later:
chick2(128Kbps).mp3
mcintyrechcik.mp3
“THROUGHOUT my campaign for city attorney, I
pledged – and I remain committed – to increase transparency in city
government by opening the offices of city officials to performance
audits by the city controller.
“In one of my first actions as the new city attorney, I “I also am taking steps to end the litigation that the “Just prior to my taking office on July 1, the court ruled
moved forward with my promise by asking the controller to conduct a
performance audit of the City Attorney’s Office.
previous city attorney initiated in 2008 to limit the authority of the
controller to conduct performance audits under the provisions of the
City Charter.
that the City Charter, as currently drafted, does not authorize the
controller to conduct a performance audit of a program within an
elected office unless, as I have done, the officeholder consents to
such an audit.”
Trutanich best carry out campaign promises or he will find himself quickly relegated to the same trash heap as Antonio Villaraigosa who also suffers from making campaign promises and then ignoring them.
This is a serious issue as Laura Chick herself is a person of her word. If she is mad at Trutanich, he has some instant damage control issues that HE must correct immediately.
So now we know that our choices were between a liar and a do-nothing. Typical.
Trutanuch is a good example of somoene who should not be re-elected. We know we need to replace the city council and the mayor next year.So we vote new people in. Wer do not keep the old because they are notdoing a good job. Chances are that some or all of the new are just doingwhat the former ones did. We do not keep making the same mistake ofre-electimg them. We vote somoene new. Eventually we will find the oneswe are looking for. They will be serious about what happens to L.A..That is why I suppoert Alan Jackson and Mike Antonovich. I alsosupport Mark Reed for Congress in the 30th. Yes, I get those mailerssaying Vote Berman and Vote Sherman. They have been inCongress for much too long, and are part of the reason the countryis in such a mess.
On his 22nd day in office Laura Chick denounces Trutanich.
You know even though I didn’t vote for him and won’t ever vote for him, I may enjoy his time at City Hall more than I thought.
If just to beat up a republican in sheeps clothing trying hard to be the “everyman” guy.
Laura Chick love her or hate her did an admiral job as City Controller — she calls them like she sees them and she thinks Nuch is a fraud – awesome.
Now Mr. Kaye whose side are you on?
Laura or Nuch?
Well, the Trutanich announcement that there’s a criminal investigation, even though Tony Cardenas was claiming that’s not was was said, sure has taken steam from the motions on the Jackson Memorial event and city expenses, It’s on the back burner now, and not due to come up again for another 60 days.
The Trutanich series of actions on several issues has me wondering what he’s really up to. The discussions on McIntyre’s show don’t convince me he’s still of the same committment as earlier profesed by him, but I was surprised at Laura Chick’s statement, and she was not wishy-washy about that at all. So more to watch for with the new C.A.
I still don’t know how accurate any numbers can be to support Janice Hahn’s claim that the event was worth the expense made by the city. I don’t know how she could say that with the budget situation so bad and the city money (taxpayers’) being further depleted.
Where’s the mayor on this now? His immediate and emotion-charged defense of AEG and “picking up the tab” statement was just too strange.
Tony now is one of the first to criticize the state for their budget manipulations and spending activities. He’s no different.
It’s all about money and they, at the city and state levels, all want an uninterrupted flow of money to continue their same spending habits.
With all this commotion at those levels, the LAUSD has seemed to be out of the spotlight for now. So much bad decision making at all these levels. Part time legislators might work to change things. It might force them to use the work time for getting to real issues first of all.
Chick’s comments say more about her judgment than they do about Trutanich. Sorry.
Wonder what David Berger thinks of Walter Moore’s comment on his blog that AEG shouldn’t pay a dime to the City.
Why AEG Does Not Owe A Dime For The Police
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
By Walter Moore, WalterMooreSays.com
Hell has officially frozen over. Pigs are flying.
I say that because I find myself in the bizarre position of siding with Antonio Villaraigosa, Eric Garcetti and Janice Hahn, and against Kevin James, Doug McIntyre, Carmen Trutanich, and just about everyone I know.
The question presented is whether AEG should reimburse the City of Los Angeles for the cost of extra police officers necessitated by the Michael Jackson memorial. Here is why I answer that question in the negative:
Section 103.111 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code spells out the circumstances under which one must apply for a permit for a special event.
Now comes the part where I use my super-powers as a lawyer, along with bold and underline fonts.
The ordinance states, “This Section shall only apply to events that fall within the definition of ‘Parade’ or ‘Assembly,’ as set forth below.” The definitions of “Parade” and “Assembly,” in turn, both refer only to activity on public property, not private property:
“PARADE” means any march or procession, other than an Athletic Event, consisting of persons, animals or vehicles, or combination thereof, upon any public street, sidewalk, alley or other public place, which does not comply with normal or usual traffic regulations or controls. This term does not include Street Closures, as that term is defined in this Section, funeral processions, or official governmental motorcades.
“ASSEMBLY” means any stationary formation, assembly, or gathering for the purpose of Expressive Activity upon any public street, sidewalk, alley, or other public place which does not comply with normal or usual traffic regulations or controls. This term does not include block parties, street festivals, carnivals or other Street Closures, as that term is defined in this Section.
Let’s apply the law together here:
Did AEG conduct any activity whatsoever “upon any public street, sidewalk, alley or other public place?” Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
The answer, I believe, is “no.” AEG did not close down a street. It conducted no activity on a sidewalk or in an alley.
Rather, AEG conducted a memorial service entirely in a private facility, namely, an auditorium it built with the City’s permission — and with subsidies to which yours truly objected, by the way.
The event was on private property, and the City therefore has no right to ask, much less require, AEG to pick up the tab for any overtime for LAPD officers.
Is this result troubling at all? No. We pay taxes for police protection. If you or I conduct some event on our private property, and it happens to generate crowds on sidewalks, well, why should you and I have to pay extra for the police protection our taxes already cover?
Let me give you a hypothetical. Suppose you and I rent a theater and sell tickets to our brilliant musical, “xxxxxx” Suppose further that our musical generates some controversy — due to the song, “Don’t Cry for Me, Pasadena” — such that mobs of angry residents are expected to protest in the streets and sidewalks outside the theater. Should you and I get stuck with the tab for that?
Of course not. We are not asking people to come clog up the streets. We’re conducting a private gathering in a building designed and permitted for the purpose. We’ve paid our taxes. It’s the City’s job to control people on sidewalks and streets, without charging us all over again for police protection.
And if the law were changed to foist that cost on us, what effect would that have on our First Amendment rights to free speech and peaceable assembly, huh? It would have a “chilling effect,” to use the relevant legal buzzword.
Those of us who actually passed the bar were taught an important principle in law school: hard facts make bad law. What that means is, even if you can’t stand Villaraigosa, AEG and/or Michael Jackson, you need to evaluate the law neutrally, and imagine how it would apply to others, whether you are a wise Latina, or just a wise guy.
I’m with 11:33 regarding Chick’s judgment. She endorsed the guy! Now she’s shitting on him. That’s faster than her Hahn back stab, or her betrayal of Joy Picus.
Hey, whoever posted my essay, thanks, I guess, but I’d prefer you post a link to my site instead. That way, my self-esteem will benefit from my seeing from the little counter that people are reading it. Also, the formatting there makes it easier to read.
Anyway, here’s a comment I added after writing the original essay, that makes the case even stronger:
P.S. Let me augment my learned legal opinion with something I didn’t notice the first time around. Look at the definition of “Assembly.” It specifically EXCLUDES funeral processions, thereby making it even more clear that AEG does not owe a dime:
“This term does not include Street Closures, as that term is defined in this Section, FUNERAL PROCESSIONS, or official governmental motorcades.”
I am reminded of Justice Franfurter’s three rules of statutory interpretation:
1. Read the statute.
2. Read the statute.
3. Read the statute.
Walter Moore,
Undoubtedly your expertise as a lawyer puts you at an advantage. But, you also may be playing the part of an advocate. You may be spinning. So, let’s take a position opposite to your position, for argument’s sake.
Your last argument regarding “P.S. Let me augment my learned legal opinion with something I didn’t notice the first time around. Look at the definition of “Assembly.” It specifically EXCLUDES funeral processions, thereby making it even more clear that AEG does not owe a dime
The FUNERAL PROCESSION was not the cause of any excess disturbance!!! The funeral procession was not the problem!!! The problem was the overflow into the streets around the Staple Center. This part of the MJ Memorial Service, the public gathering that occurred outside the Staple Center, was obviously part of the event, and was an expected occurrence which should have required a permit. The crowd control policing, inside and outside, should be provided AND PAID FOR by the Staple Center, in their security detail budgeting, AS PART OF THEIR EVENT
Commonly, funerals don’t have crowds overflowing into the streets and blocking traffic. The MJ disturbances was outside the norm, and DEFINITELY SHOULD HAVE REQUIRED A PERMIT, SHOULD HAVE BEEN PLANNED AND PAID FOR BY THE EVENT ORGANIZERS.
Walter Moore, do you really expect the City of Los Angeles to pick up the tab for ALL FUNERAL PARTY related security detail costs, that overflow into public streets, within the entire Los Angeles City??? THIS IS ABSURD!!!
Walter Moore,
Regarding the above, your argument regarding pertaining to the MJ Service, regarding the theatrical event’s crowd overflow, is just weak and silly. If the theatrical event plans to have overflow into the streets that require security, then the theatrical event should pay.
Else, it’s an emergency situtaion and should be handled by the experts at the LAPD.
Does the LAPD pay for traffic or crowd control for Lakers, Clippers, the Oscars, etc.?????
Since council is so generous with tax payers money why not council claim these bodies and pay for all these families funeral services?
More bodies go unclaimed as families can’t afford funeral costs
Tue 21 Jul 2009
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske
The poor economy is taking a toll even on the dead, with an increasing number of bodies in Los Angeles County going unclaimed by families who cannot afford to bury or cremate their loved ones.
At the county coroner’s office — which handles homicides and other suspicious deaths — 36% more cremations were done at taxpayers’ expense in the last fiscal year over the previous year, from 525 to 712.
The county morgue, which is responsible for the indigent and others who go unclaimed, saw a 25% increase in cremations in the first half of this year over the same period a year ago, rising to 680 from 545.
The demands on the county crematorium have been so high that earlier this year, officials there stopped accepting bodies from the coroner. The coroner’s office since has contracted with two private crematories for $135,000 to handle the overflow.
“It’s a pretty dramatic increase,” said Lt. David Smith, a coroner’s investigator. “The families just tell us flat-out they don’t have the money to do a funeral.”
Once the county cremates an unclaimed body — typically about a month after death — next of kin can pay the coroner $352 to receive the ashes. The fee for claiming ashes from the morgue is $466.
Christopher Agosta’s ashes are among those waiting.
Last month, the coroner called his sister, Tarnya Baker, 41, of Amesbury, Mass., to notify her that Agosta, 43, of West Hollywood, had shot himself in the head. Although Baker was her brother’s next of kin, they had not spoken since he left Massachusetts for California 15 years ago. Only after he died did she learn that he was in debt. He shot himself as sheriff’s officials attempted to evict him. He left a note giving his possessions to the local AIDS clinic.
Baker said she wants to claim his ashes, but she and her husband have two children and a struggling glass-glazing business. During the last two years, they have had to lay off their two employees.
“I know that I can’t afford to handle all this,” Baker said. “I can’t afford to fly out there and ask questions.”
Coroners and funeral directors around the country say they are seeing the same trend as cash-strapped families cope with funeral costs. Just claiming a body from the L.A. County coroner costs $200. Once a body is claimed, private cremations usually run close to $1,000, Smith said. Funeral homes charge an average of $7,300 to transport and bury a body in a simple grave, according to the National Funeral Home Directors Assn.
“No one is immune from this,” said Bob Achermann, executive director of the California Funeral Directors Assn. in Sacramento. “The economic malaise we’re in is affecting everybody.”
Coroner’s investigators see the emotional and financial fallout up close.
“You go to the house where the person who died was the only breadwinner, a traffic accident, and there’s the wife and you see children,” Smith said. “Especially with a younger family, it blows them out of the water.”
Smith said that in his dozen years at the coroner’s office, he cannot remember seeing such a high number of families unable to afford the cost of claiming a body. If families ask, coroner’s staff will refer them to several funeral homes, including 70-year-old Allen English & Estrada Funeral Services in Bell Gardens, which offers cremations through its Cremation Society of Los Angeles.
The society’s director assistant, Joseph Harvey, said cremations have increased about 15% since the economic downturn last year. His office cremates about 400 bodies a year and charges about $700.
Harvey said the funeral industry is trying to do a better job of marketing itself in this economy. He said the casket manufacturers he deals with have stopped selling some expensive models as demand wanes.
“Families are making different choices based on the economy, choosing different caskets or urns or holding shorter services,” said Jessica Koth, a spokeswoman for the National Funeral Home Directors Assn. “They’re cutting back on floral memorials. If they have a funeral procession, they’re not having the family limousine.”
Alfredo Xochipa, 27, said he shopped around for a lower-cost casket after his 21-year-old brother, Pedro, was shot to death at a party in Los Angeles on July 4.
Xochipa, who works for the county’s Department of Public Social Services, found a metal casket at a warehouse store in Boyle Heights for $1,300, about $1,000 less than retail. Because his brother was a crime victim, Xochipa said, the coroner’s office waived its $200 fee. A week after his brother was killed, the family held a funeral and buried Pedro at Resurrection Cemetery in Montebello.
But even after receiving $7,500 from a state crime victims fund to defray costs, his family still owed more than $4,000.
“He had a lot of friends, and we have a lot of family, so that helped us out, we got a lot of donations,” Xochipa said. “But there was still money that my dad had to request as a loan from friends.”
Xochipa said his father, a truck driver, has not had luck finding work to pay off the funeral debt. The family has applied for assistance from the Catholic Archdiocese.
Smith said he has seen many families go to great lengths to claim their loved ones’ remains, despite financial setbacks.
“We’ve had families try to have car washes and other little fundraising events. . . . They try to do right,” he said.
For the dead left to the county, officials attempt to recover cremation costs from the estates. But the county does not require relatives to prove they are too poor to pay. Smith said his office, with a staff of four, cannot investigate. The morgue is similarly strapped. If records later show a family could have paid to claim a body, by law the county can recover the cost.
Other counties investigate families’ ability to pay. San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault, first vice president of the California State Coroners’ Assn., said his office recently began requiring applicants for county-funded cremations to submit a three-page application listing bank accounts, property or other assets.
“We figure that will be a deterrent,” Foucrault said. “We have found people that take advantage of the system. They do have the funds to pay but feel because they have been estranged from somebody, they shouldn’t have to be responsible for the burial.”
In some cases, family members say they have been delayed by Los Angeles County’s next-of-kin policy, which requires that the closest living relative be given time to claim the remains.
Mark Hooper, 49, of Lancaster, died in December of complications from hepatitis C. After his body went unclaimed, he was cremated at county expense.
At the time of his death, the carpet contractor was unemployed, ill, in debt and living near his parents in Lancaster.
His 22-year-old daughter, Angelica Hooper, who lives in the San Diego area, said she intends to allow her grandparents to claim the ashes. She also said she’s been busy with work.
“I have to keep my mind on other things,” she said. “Just him passing was a lot to deal with.”
Carol Hooper, 70, a retired aircraft mechanic, said last week that her son struggled with addiction and had trouble holding down jobs. But, she said, he was also a kind, giving person who made many friends growing up in Redondo Beach. If her granddaughter does not claim the ashes, she will.
“We’re not rich; we’re retired,” Hooper said. “But we’ll make it for him.”
In Massachusetts, Christopher Agosta’s sister said she, too, is determined to do the right thing.
“He is my brother,” Tarnya Baker said. “He died alone. I’m bringing him home.”
She has two years to claim his remains. If she doesn’t, Agosta’s ashes will be buried with those of hundreds of others in a pauper’s grave.
latimes.com
Some people, LIKE WALTER MOORE, believe that anyone in L.A. can schedule a funeral party, invite way too many people, then let the LAPD and City Services pay for any overflow problems that occur.
The Los Angeles resident plans his deceased friends’s funeral party, invites 2000 people so that much of the party occurs on the public streets, AND LAPD WILL SUPPLY THE SECURITY, AS WELL AS THE LUNCH BOXES.
I was at the very first community meeting in which Carmen Trutanich was introduced as running for City Attorney. Coincidentally, this was at one of Ron’s SLAP meetings and the guy taking Nuch around and showing him where the grassroots supporters gather was … David Saltzberg – aka Zuma Dogg.
Nuch relied on David to show him the community, and later Nuch’s campaign people made a lot of promises on Nuch’s behalf to David regarding hiring him if Nuch won the election. David is a believer. He didn’t need those promises to push for Nuch in interviews and on talk radio. He pushed Nuch because he believed. In that way, our friend David is very much an idealist. I recognize that trait, because I’m one too, and being an idealist means you are in for a lot of letdowns in this world.
Nuch won, and I voted for him. I had made up my mind to do so the very first day David introduced Nuch to us at SLAP. I very much liked the man I met before he had any real idea that he might win. I thought he had true integrity.
As David, Nuch’s truest believer, falls deeper and deeper into serious personal crisis due to being homeless and unemployed, I am beginning to have equally serious doubts about Carmen Trutanich’s integrity.
What’s it gonna be, Carmen? Is Laura Chick right about you? Are you going to keep those campaign promises, especially the personal ones you made, or not?
Hey, whoever posted my essay “edited” it! They took out the title of my musical, “Those Darn Illegal Aliens!”
Visit my website to see the real thing.
Wholesale cutting and pasting is bad enough, but it’s worse to do so inaccurately!
P.S. AEG didn’t invite “way too many people.” On the contrary, it issued TICKETS, IN ADVANCE, based on the number of seats in the auditorium.
If you don’t like the law, that’s fine. I’m just telling you what the law is, and why AEG has no legal obligation to pay a dime. Don’t shoot the messenger, man.
P.P.S. The Oscars DO use public sidewalks and take over the streets. They erect bleachers, I believe, and run red carpets over the sidewalks. Hence, they are obligated to apply for permits.
I may not agree with Walter on SO40 and I dislike much of his fan following, the Minuteman types, but at least he’s always been who he says he is, unlike Trutanich who has said anything to anyone to get elected — from Chick to the Westside and valley folk and gays whose issues he couldn’t have cared less about til he decided to run but pretended to embrace with the practiced “son of a poor cannery worker” spiel and grin he’s honed so well playing to a jury.
It’s been one thing for him to “say and do anything” to get his criminal clients off the hook BUT it was utterly unethical from the get-go to do that in his campaign in order to get elected. Too bad it took til AFTER the election for people to realize that most of what his opponents said about him WAS the truth and what Trutanich said was a well-rehearsed, well-prepared set of lies.
Have to side with Walter’s analysis. Those opposed bring up the obvious reality that there were and are lots of people on the streets when there is some big event. The crowds and traffic are expected but there’s not any law that makes the activity that’s within a place like the Staples Center responsible for expenses related to how the police will handle it.
Until the public streets are used for the events, the need for a permit has not arisen.
The city might CREATE some law to anticipate future events and it might be included in some rental agreement that outside public safty expenses foreseeable from particular events would make city permission required, including financial arrangements for such added work by the city.
If the terms are not followed, then the law could have a provision for prohibiting the event from going on or have some sort of liquidated damages clause if it is held anyway.
Whatever you want to do, there’s a danger that it will cross into First Amendment territory and then more problems can arise. But there’s not law that will serve as authority for imposing financial liability on anyone here. The t.v. platforms erected outside the Staples Center might be subject to some regulations if they were on public sidewalks but that’s about all.
If you consider a moral argument or a causation analyis, of course, blame away on them. Under the law, I think we are stuck. It looks like City Council is studying how to create a law to avoid holding the bag in the future.
I was surprised at Chick’s outburst, she normally waits until all the information
is available. I disbelieve that Trutanich
would be a liar in this situation. He is
still trying to assemble all the facts.
I would say that this case will be continued. TH
Chick wants someone to pick up her attorney’s $100,000 tab which the City Council refused to pay. She should do fund raising rather than curse out Trutanich who has no control over it.
My “non-legal profession” opinion is that the MJ/AEG event on private property was intended to spill over onto public property to create the media circus that it was, given the Event Sponsored TV cameras were on the street along with the encouraged entertainment atmosphere. This was intentional. If the MJ/AEG event spilled onto the street, and was intentional, then it was part of the overall MJ/AEG event. Therefore, it was not only a private, commercial affair, but was also a public event on public property. The City should have required a permit with the expectation that the event’s sponsor should pay for City Services.
This Chick windbag shouldn’t be recognized as a newsmaker for just bloviating, especially since she has the facts wrong. But I have to give her credit–she’s real pro at demagoguery. She has all you reporters fooled: no one even asked her how much her “pay to play” audits cost the City, and why no one was convicted because of them.
Let me give you a hypothetical. Suppose you and I rent a theater and sell tickets to our brilliant musical, “Those Darn Illegals.” Suppose further that our musical generates some controversy — due to the song, “Don’t Cry for Me, Pasadena” — such that mobs of angry illegal aliens are expected to protest in the streets and sidewalks outside the theater. Should you and I get stuck with the tab for that?
YES, YES, YES!!!!! They must pay!!!! Don’t you realize that the “mobs of angry illegal aliens” were not who most think, but were actors from the musical troop pretending to be illegal aliens!!!
They were hopping mad and only pretending to be “mobs of angry illegal aliens”, in order to generate media buzz over their “brilliant musical”. It was discovered to all be a sham, by none other than Walter Moore.
Yes, Trutanich really doesn’t want to be audited. The writing between the lines are very clear. He’s side stepping and delaying. He’s stalling and using every side-issue he can find to “change the subject”. He don’t want “no-one looking over his shoulder”.
And Greuel, what is she doing as our new Controller. Don’t you people get it. She never gets her “hands dirty”. She always trys to stay “squeeky clean”. That’s her image.
So, who comes along. Why the attach dog, Laura Chick. Laura is doing the diry work for Wendy. Laura is going to bite Trutanich in the butt. (it’s no skin off her butt, she goes back to Sacto).
No matter how many “should” or “intended to be” phrases are used, the city still has no good legal position.
If you say overflow and outside crowds expected, you are forgetting that the tickets (that were free) were assigned to people for the two venues and that was all that were coming to the event.
The wristbands were also used to ensure that no outside un-ticketted person could enter the venues. All the “overflow crowds” and the like were not invited and the police department issued an announcement the day before the event that you were not going to be able to enter the area within 2 blocks of the Staples Center without tickets. That probably dampened any thoughts of coming to see who came and went to the event.
But all the idea that Walter because his opinion concludes “Stuck with the bill” criticize him. It’s the message, remember. He is not voting on what’s going to happen.
For a “bottom line” on this, we will be waiting for several weeks.
And the idea of punishing AEG might not be too thought out. They own lots and although L.A. is eating this deal, they bring lots of commerce into the city and the downtown area, especially, which is another reason the Mayor and council member kiss their butt as an anchor to the Grand Avenue money-sink hole of a project. But without the AEG’s work and giving them the $230 million plus of tax breaks, the idea of lofts and downtown apartments might still be somebody’s dream (like Tony often says), but they still are weasels.
AEG made out like bandits with the sign rights to he Convention Center and that’s just a part of how involved they are with the politicians and projects. Tony probably doesn’t want to have egg on his face should AEG turn on him and impact on any of his redevelopment projects, as cash-grabby as they are.
Of course the Trutanich sycophants who have their wagons hitched to him are now bashing Laura Chick just as they did Wendy earlier, but when Trutanich wanted her endorsement BECAUSE ALL THE CONSERVTIVES CALLED HER ‘THE ONLY HONEST POLITICIAN’ he did and said anything to get it. There may have been cases where her audits didn’t give credit to others where due so she could claim credit for “discovering” the problem, but it was precisely to the Trutanich Kool-Aid drinkers that she was a heroine because she wasn’t afraid to criticize anyone anywhere.
Listening to Kevin James coming up with ways to brand the both of them liars and fools like 9:00 does is really pathetic and transparent. She’s the same person she was when they all loved her, except that she’s belatedly wised up to Trutanich.
Hey, 9:29: how is this avoiding an audit? Why don’t you ask what is stopping Wendy from doing just that?
“In one of my first actions as the new city attorney, I moved forward with my promise by asking the controller to conduct a performance audit of the City Attorney’s Office.
I have learned to appreciate what “Zuma Dogg” aka: David does at City Council. I did hope that someone would help him get a job. If Nuch promised him one, I do hope that he will follow through.
“Zuma” – You are running for office again! Clean yourself up! You looked great when you were the Mayoral candidate. I know that is not your “Zuma” personna, but you want to be taken seriously. So seriously, put your black shirt back on and shave before you go to Council.
Trutanich agreed to an audit and still does. You armchair critics need to do your homework before you jump to conclusions like that ignorant bigmouth Laura Chick. The court is deciding whether Trutanich MUST agree to an audit, or whether it’s OPTIONAL. So far, the court says it’s optional. Getting an answer to this question is important for City government. It’s a long way from a refusal to submit to audit.
Maybe Laura Chick is feeling the heat Trutanich is putting on LA officials for the Michael Jackson giveaway. Note Chick’s AEG connection–she was on their gravy train like many others in City Hall:
02/24/06 AEG AND AFFILIATED ENTITIES
LOS ANGELES, CA 90015 LAURA N. CHICK
Controller
931164 – CONTROLLER LAURA CHICK OFFICEHOLDER COMMITTEE A – Monetary Contribution Received
(OTH – Other)
[Period: 01/01/06-03/31/06]
$1,000.00
11/14/07 AEG AND AFFILIATED ENTITIES
LOS ANGELES, CA 90015 LAURA N. CHICK
Controller
931164 – CONTROLLER LAURA CHICK OFFICEHOLDER COMMITTEE A – Monetary Contribution Received
(OTH – Other)
[Period: 10/01/07-12/31/07]
$1,000.00
Dear Nuch Booster at 6:17-
Well, we will see, won’t we.
7:38, Stick with observing, you’re not good for much else.
I’m sorry but it’s Laura Chick who is the liar and demagogue here. On McIntyre’s show she said Trutanich went back on his word to dismiss the lawsuit. That’s the deal that Chick claims she had with Trutanich – support for dismissal.
But, the problem for Chick is that these days, the internet makes it easy to check Chick. I found Rick Orlov’s report on the day Chick announced her support for Trutanich – Daily Breeze, April 15, 2009, Headline “Trutanich wins Chick’s support.” I suggest you all Google it and read it for yourselves. Orlov reported that Chick was supporting Trutanich “because of his position on allowing wide latitude to the controller in auditing programs.”
Nowhere does Chick mention “dismissal” of a lawsuit. Nowhere.
What does “Wide latitude” mean? It means allowing the controller to audit his office. And Trutanich has consistently said that he wants the controller to audit his office.
So, while Chick bordered on hysterical anger on McIntyre this morning, claiming Trutanich promised to dismiss the lawsuit, the facts showed that it was Chick who is a lair and demagogue.
When Chick calmed down from her hysteria, someone must have told her she was wrong about the “deal” she had with Trutanich. So Chick wrote a letter to the Daily News – it’s published today in the ‘Opinions – Letters’ section; “Nuch must keep promise.”
Now Chick has dropped the ‘dismissal’ word. Nowhere, I repeat, nowhere in Chick’s letter does she claim there was ever a promise to dismiss the lawsuit. Now she’s claiming “Trutanich promised to overturn the Delgadillo opinion.” My question is, was she lying about the deal on McIntyre, or is she lying about the deal in the Daily News?
Either way she’s a liar because Rick’s piece in the Daily Breeze has the ‘deal’ in her words. Wide latitude. Period.
So why is Chick so desperate to trash Trutanich? It’s because she does not want to pay the legal fees for the case she lost. She wants us to pay her bills. And she’ll say and do anything to dodge that bullet.
I call that being a liar and a demagogue. It’s also being a deadbeat.
That’s true. If the City Attorney, Trutanich, drops the case against Chick then the Court will force the City Attorney pay Chick’s legal fees, about $100K they say.
Chick wants Trutanich to drop the case.
Trutanich previously said that he doesn’t want to drop the case, set a bad precedent, and waste taxpayer’s money unnecessarily.
4:20, the court will not “force” any payment of fees, but they can make an “order” as a result of the outcome, and application has to be made for any specific amount.
The parties usually are able to “settle” matters by a “stipulation” and that’s commonly apparoach used to effectuate terms as agreed upon by the parties. Maybe it’s that the parties here haven’t reached an agreement.
And the precedent may be here that the C.A. is onto a winning path that may have to be re-blazed if the matter is dismissed before a finalizing any orders in the City Attorney’s favor.
Nuch may have some basis for his reluctance to cooperate with the Controller, but Rocky, as with most slimy politicians, has generated lots of work to cover his ass and ego, and he gets to walk away cleanly. Rocky, on top of that, left his crew with Civil Service protections for jobs with city in near perpetuity. Nice touch to burden the taxpayers and flip all of us off, symbolically.
City Council on top of all this, heaped an hour’s worth of B.S. praise on Rocky when he left office, never mentioning all the expense he ran up for the city and NOBODY seems to care that he left his disciples that cost MORE, (a million dollars?) for staffing for Nuch’s staff.
Spineless council did not even TRY to undo or just consider undoing this “gift” from Rocky. It’s not their money anyway, and all they have to do is find ways to raise more fees. That’s THEIR gift, their talent, offered to the public.
Part-time Council, Part-time legislators – dump the bums.
One reason for Trutanich’s bizarre attention- grabbing and trying to make Wendy look the fool and fiscally irresponsible for a pittance of a legal fee that he’d supported in principle earlier to both her and Chick, as a “smokescreen” in Chick’s words for blocking Wendy’s audit powers: he’s already running for Mayor n 2013.
This was even discussed with him as a guest on James’ show last night and he sure didn’t deny it, enjoyed the mention, and his inside circle has been already planning for it. David Berger wants to run for DA or the CA, depending on who else is running. Leaving the other slot for another deputy/flunky to run for. And of course they want their own friendly Controller.
The guy hasn’t even done a thing yet, except attack and threaten people, has no track record in public service whatsoever, to the contrary, ran on simply promises that were just stepping-stones to his real ambition. I’ve been reading speculation that his grandstanding against AEG and inspiring the LAFD union head to link them to reduced fire services is part of his using AEG as a scapegoat to suck upto the unions, like he has done with his friend at the LAPD union.
The guy’s ambition so far exceeds his capacity and ethics except as a hustler, it’s mind-boggling.
This whole issue is completely ridiculous. Everyone is unnecessarily hysterical.
Let’s go back to the beginning. Controller Chick wanted to audit City Attorney Delgadillo’s workers comp program. He said no way and sued her. The council wouldn’t put the question on the ballot for voters to decide or pay her legal fees.
So far..Chick for transparency. Council and Rocky opposed.
Trutanich tells Chick during the campaign he believes the suit was a “waste of taxpayer money” (LA Times) and that he would support a Controller audit of his office and believes the Charter provides for such an audit.
Ok…now Trutanich is for transparency.
No discussion of dismissal. No promises. The case hasn’t even been decided at this point. In fact, Chick wants the case to go to verdict because she’s confident of victory. Chick never formally endorses Trutanich, claiming she cannot endorse in her new position with the Governor.
No quid pro quo.
Trutanich wins election. Chick loses lawsuit.
Oops! She didn’t expect this. Now she’s stuck with a six figure legal bill from her own attorney as well as attorney’s fees for the City’s legal expenses. Probably half a million or more.
In spite of losing verdict, Trutanich invites Greuel in to audit entire office of City Attorney–the original dispute. He makes good on promise and until her auditors are locked out she and Chick cannot claim he has broken any promises.
But, instead of auditing on July 2, Greuel changes the subject and suggests Trutanich is not keeping his word on Doug Mcyntyre’s show. Greuel’s husband is Mcyntyre’s agent FYI.
Meanwhile….
Chick’s sweating bullets over the legal bills. She calls Trutanich to demand he dismiss the suit and make the City pay the half million for her. Or…she’ll call the press and call him a liar.
Trutanich tells her to f%@k off. In other words, he’s for transparency, not extortion. He’s just not for taxpayers paying for her crappy lawyer who screwed up the case.
So, here’s a novel thought. Wendy, go audit Trutanich. He invited you in. Laura Chick is yesterday’s news and has no power–just a very big legal bill the City should never pay for a media whore.
Lisa, your analysis, and that of “10:36PM,” is spot on. Doing the right thing may be a cliche, but that’s clearly what’s going on in the Trutanich camp. Tru wants an audit, and believes that the controller should have that right. The Charter and the court rulings says the controller does not have that right – just like the police do not have the right to search you or your house without a warrant. But the cops can search if you give consent, and the controller can audit if Tru gives consent. He has given his consent. That’s transparency and it’s the model we should expect from elected officials.
What’s the behind the scenes un-transparent dirty secret here? Yes, it’s Laura Chick wanting her legal fees paid by the City. And it’s Wendy Greuel helping her to stick it to the taxpayer. Oh, it’s only $500k, a “pittance” as one of her phantom blogers said. Yes, $500k may be a “pittance” in the scale of the City’s $530M deficit, but it only takes a handful of “pittances” to add up to a $530M deficit. “Fiscal responsibility” and “transparency” are certainly cliches in the minds of Chick and Greuel.
As for the ridiculous suggestion that Tru is running for mayor when Villar is termed out, I suggest Ron Kaye does some investigative research. Guess who has already hired a campaign consultant for her mayoral bid? I’ll give you some clues;
it’s not Carmen Trutanich.
It’s someone who’s husband is Dean Schramm
Dean Scramm is Doug McIntyre’s agent
Wendy Greuel’s husband is Dean Schramm
Wendy has no reason to fear being accused of being insincere in her commitment to running the Controller’s office while at the same time positioning herself for her mayoral bid. After all, 55% of Los Angelenos voted for Villar when he made it clear that he was going to run for Governor.
So Wendy, why don’t you come out and say it? Be transparent. Introduce us to your campaign consultant and tell us your real agenda. Explain why, in your first 21 days you’ve done nothing but attack Trutanich. Explain that the reason why you’ve declined to audit Trutanich’s office is because any audit you do now will only reflect badly on Delgadillo. You need to do an audi that will trash Tru, and so you want to wait a couple of years.
You people want transparency? Take a look at who is transparent here.
The previous 2 posters at 7:23 and 11:36 are just typical of the desperate and despicable apologists and spinners for Trutanich. Lisa makes up her own version of events and calls Chick an extortionist as well as a liar, a has-been with “no power” (while Trutanich sure has proven he likes to misuse his by throwing it around) and a “media whore.” Doug is a liar too, because Wendy’s husband is his agent. Their lawyer whose position Trutanich had vowed to support when he was running and needed Chick’s endorsement is now a “crappy lawyer” and of course, a burden on the taxpayer, a bain, someone who must be made a negative example of.
Never mind that Doug devoted tons of free airtime to electing Trutanich and repeating lies against Weiss to do so, without ever questioning the Trutanich/Berger claims, both of whom and their campaign manager John Thomas were repeat guests as was Cooley even AFTER the election, with Nooch agreeing with him while he put the whole race in demagoguic bible-thumping terms of “good vs. evil,” “David vs. Goliath,” their usual spin to obscure what they were really upto. Chick says that Trutanich and his team “think the public is stupid,” and sadly they seem to have reason to: they bamboozled them into winning the election. Had Doug been remotely close to trying to help Wendy’s “troika” with the Mayor and Weiss, he’d have done totally the opposite and exposed Trutanich then. But NOW of course Doug is a corrupt agent to them.
Calling Chick a “has-been hack” as well as liar and “extortionist” and “media whore” (like Wendy) who’s been recruited by Villaraigosa to shore up his team is another common ploy among these bloggers and certain radio show sycophants.
Never mind that Chick threw Jack Weiss under the bus on the rape kid issue, claiming she “discovered” it just a few months before leaving office, AFTER Weiss had been hammering on the subject over and over and was hammered HERE by Ron Kaye for being “ineffectual” about getting the funding for his plan to eliminate the backlog. A plan he’d worked out over years and especially the last year, including with fellow public safety committee member Greig Smith, who spoke out angrily to Orlov in the Daily News about Chick’s ignoring all their work – which he vouched for and later, the LA Times corrobotated in a timeline going back to 2002. BUT the damage had been done in the public eye, even colleagues who knew better publicly questioned Weiss’s veracity and sided with Zine’s endless slams on Weiss — lots of jealousy was evident, too — and this slam is the ONE lie that Kevin James repeats over and over to THIS DAY about Weiss. Says it’s why he’s always liked Chick, because “she exposed” Weiss, i.e. misspoke about him on this issue and threw him under the bus. SOME MEMBER OF THE VILLARAIGOSA ‘TEAM!’” If Chick had WANTED to harm Villaraigosa’s candidate she couldn’t have done a better job.
Then we have 7:23 a.m. agreeing with the both of THEM (who knows if they’re three people or 2 or someone agreeing with themselves), adding a bigger slam on Wendy Greuel and her motives and Doug’s integrity or alleged lack of it all of a sudden. Added to Trutanich’s behavior in making accusations based on nothing but innuendos and bluffing, while lying and saying anything to anyone and wheeling-dealing behind the scenes to get endorsements he wants (what he’s now accusing Chick and Gruel of): that’s Team Trutanich.
Do not confuse 3:01 with facts.
I’m sorry by 3:01 is absolutely right. Trutanich/Berger excoriated Jack Weiss publicly and stealthily – using blogs and websites and twitter. Jack Weiss would be a much better city attorney and now you all can see why. Under Jack there would have been waste millions of dollars on hiring new people for the office, and Jack would have paid off Laura’s legal fees in a heartbeat. Trutanich is now hiring a bunch of ex-cops for his Board of Investigations that will only cost even more money that could be better spent on improving the environment and funding schools and supporting voters rights. Instead there will be a McCarthy witch hunt of politician who are just taking care of running the city. We’ve already seen how Trutanich threatened to jail members of the Planing Commission because they approved a new digital billboard at the Staples Center, and it won’t be long before Trutanich sets his sights on Jack Weiss. I suppose Trutanich will try to stop the city from paying for Jack’s lawyer as well. That’s who we have as our city attorney.
10:45 is right, I think, anyway what I get of the jist of it. With the way Trutanich and David Berger AND their sponsor DA Cooley made a personal vendetta against Jack Weiss from the start, they must legally recuse themselves from anything to do with him. They are indeed on a citywide witchhunt, wasting tons of money doing it while denying Chick the legal fees he’d agreed to in principle and vilifying her and anyone who stands in their way. Clearly they and their fanatic friends like Kevin James know no bounds of self-restraint or decency — have vowed to flood City Hall with James’ listeners if Weiss gets the LAX job heading security – something he was acknowledged to be the Council leader on way back before he ever met Villaraigosa, under Jimmy Hahn, and was acknowledged a national leader back then, so of course it’s nothing to do even with Antonio.
They don’t hide their motives as sheer spite and revenge. It is utterly detestable the way they have treated him and the way cowardly people stood by, the way people were fooled by this demagogue. He’s got a brilliant legal mind, and honorable record of service and real transparency in what he’s done in public life, despite the lies and slanders that are utterly unfounced — not only compared to this guy from a fly-by-night night law school who’s been on the other side of the law for 25 years, getting by on a grin and a song-and-dance, but compared to anyone. Now we have a guy who took on this job for the explicit purpose of going on a Republican vendetta against Democrats while claiming all kinds of bible-thumping nonsense, fulfilling Cooley and Company’s long-standing vendettas, by lying that he was non-partisan.
It was surreal watching this crafty “fixer from San Pedro” getting away with all his spin, because of the timing of the campaign and other factors coming to bear, like wanting to “bust up the machine” as Doug put it.
Instead of a highly competent City Attorney and elevation of the office, we have a “Three Stooges” grandstanding and barging around wasting money on their personal witchhunts and vendettas. The comments their cohorts make in private and which sometimes slip out on blogs are more worthy of mafia mobsters. But Jack Weiss is one target they can’t go after having made their unprofessional bias and vendetta so clear, so it’s all the rest who stood by who have to watch their heads. Frankly it reminds me of the way Europe sacrificed Czechoslovakia to Hitler, only to have to fight the much bigger war.
They have indeed “excoriated him terribly” and in such a vile, despicable way that it shows the utter lack of character and decency of these people. Anyone who participated in their despicable campaign and who participates in this McCarthyist witchhunt of theirs will go down in history in the Hall of Shame. People are just beginning to wake up to what is happening here.
Look at this case in the criminal courts building and see if Trutanich is not corrupt.
8CA10541
Look at this case in the criminal courts building and see if Trutanich is not corrupt.
8CA10541