Carmen Trutanich

As the race for city attorney winds down, insiders are poring over poll data and other indicators with one question in mind: Will incumbent Carmen Trutanich make the runoff? Most observers consider former Assemblyman Mike Feuer the front-runner, likely to finish first in a field of four candidates -- himself, Trutanich and private lawyers Greg Smith and Noel Weiss. Feuer is endorsed by a host of leading officials, including Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (he also was endorsed by the Los Angeles Times )

In a sign of how bitter the race for Los Angeles city attorney has become, two of the three main candidates on the March 5 ballot continued to hammer each other Monday, while the campaign of a largely self-funded, dark horse candidate appeared to pick up steam. City Atty. Carmen Trutanich, former lawmaker Mike Feuer and private lawyer Greg Smith mixed it up during a radio debate on KCRW-FM (89.9)'s "Which Way, L.A.?" Trutanich and Feuer reserved their sharpest barbs for one another, with Feuer calling Trutanich's tenure a failure and Trutanich continuing to deride Feuer's lack of courtroom experience.

The Los Angeles city attorney does at least two and arguably three jobs. He is the city's advocate in court; the legal advisor to the mayor, City Council and government agencies; and the chief prosecutor of misdemeanors in the city. The office's functions are so disparate that there are periodically calls to break it up, to make the city's counsel an appointed position while still electing the city's prosecutor. That idea is not before voters this spring, but four candidates are: incumbent Carmen Trutanich, former Assemblyman Mike Feuer and private lawyers Greg Smith and Noel Weiss.

Shortly after Carmen Trutanich took office as Los Angeles city attorney in 2009, he caused a big splash by taking on illegal billboards. And he's highlighted his crusade against unpermitted signs as he faces a tough reelection battle. So what's with the splashy Trutanich election banner splayed across a building along a busy stretch of freeway? The colorful sign, visible to drivers on southbound Interstate 5 near the Glendale Boulevard exit in northeast Los Angeles, features a picture of Trutanich, his campaign's website address and a message urging his reelection.

Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich raised some eyebrows when, during a recent candidates forum, he referred to himself as "an outsider. " That might be a tough description for an incumbent to justify. But Trutanich, facing three challengers in the city's March 5 primary election after a failed run for district attorney, has embraced it. "I'm not a career politician," Trutanich told the audience at Temple Israel in Hollywood last week. "I got into this game at 57, not 27. " The age reference seemed to be a dig at past city councilman and former state Assemblyman Mike Feuer, widely viewed as Trutanich's main competitor as he seeks a second term (although Feuer was 37, not 27, when he won the council seat)

A source close to the Los Angeles Police Protective League says that the league has decided, at least for now, not to make an endorsement in the race for city attorney. (The league this week endorsed Controller Wendy Greuel for mayor.) The decision to hold off in the city attorney's race will come as a disappointment to at least two candidates in the race -- and therefore as a bonus to the other major contender. City Atty. Carmen Trutanich was helped by the league's endorsement four years ago when he was battling City Councilman Jack Weiss.

Monday night's debate of the principal city attorney candidates at Temple Israel of Hollywood was the first time all four had shared a stage. Although devoted in part to questions of faith, morality and responsibility, the discussion also featured a number of sharp exchanges over the effectiveness of the incumbent, Carmen Trutanich, and the credentials and ideas of his challengers, Assemblyman Mike Feuer and private lawyers Noel Weiss and Greg Smith. Smith, for instance, questioned whether voters should believe Trutanich, who once promised not to seek another office and then ran for Los Angeles district attorney.

Making his first citywide endorsement of this municipal elections season, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Thursday backed former Assemblyman Mike Feuer in the hotly contested race for city attorney. Villaraigosa, appearing with Feuer outside the Variety Boys and Girls Club in Boyle Heights, praised the former lawmaker "as a tireless advocate, as a ferocious fighter for public safety and for kids. " The endorsement came the same day that campaign finance reports filed with the city showed Feuer to be in the best financial shape of the four candidates on the ballot as the March 5 primary nears.

The internal watchdog at the troubled Los Angeles Fire Department is again squaring off with City Atty. Carmen Trutanich over access to personnel records. On Wednesday, Independent Assessor Stephen Miller said he had filed a State Bar complaint against some of Trutanich's attorneys for their roles in withholding records. He also announced that he has filed a claim against Trutanich for alleged misconduct. The charges come as the Fire Department faces scrutiny over the accuracy and transparency of its response times and as Trutanich fights a tough reelection campaign against a former state lawmaker and City Council member who is trying to unseat him in the March primary.

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office concluded Thursday that the child endangerment investigation involving city commissioner Andrea Alarcon does not rise to the level of felony charges and sent it to the city attorney's office for possible misdemeanor prosecution. Michael Gargiulo, head deputy of the district attorney's Family Violence Unit, said in a two-page report that Alarcon left her 11-year-old daughter unattended for three hours on Nov. 16, the night of a gala at City Hall.