Trutanich

Campaign operatives for Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich on Friday lodged a complaint against his most prominent challenger in next week's election, accusing former lawmaker Mike Feuer and his political consultant of flouting city campaign finance disclosure laws. The complaint, filed with the City Ethics Commission by Trutanich chief strategist Rick Taylor and campaign spokesman John Schwada, alleges that Feuer and consultant John Shallman have arranged to waive or postpone Shallman's fees, which the Trutanich campaign said amounts to an illegal "in-kind donation" that greatly exceeds the city's limits on individuals' contributions.

With large numbers of Los Angeles voters yet to make up their minds, a new poll shows that first-term City Atty. Carmen Trutanich is struggling to stay afloat as Tuesday's primary election approaches. Trutanich is in a statistical dead heat for second place with private attorney Greg Smith. Former lawmaker Mike Feuer enjoys a slight edge over both as the three candidates battle to advance to an expected May runoff. Feuer, who served on the City Council and then in the state Assembly representing the city's Westside, was the choice of 23.8% of those surveyed for the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy/L.A.

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.

Ahead in fundraising and awash in endorsements, former lawmaker Mike Feuer's campaign for Los Angeles city attorney is filling mailboxes and sending automated phone calls to voters. Incumbent Carmen Trutanich has come out swinging against Feuer, his best-positioned challenger in the March 5 primary, while dark-horse candidate Greg Smith is poised to put more of his own cash into TV spots to boost his name ID. As the race for the city's top lawyer enters its final weeks, the campaign styles of its main contenders are coming into sharper relief.

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)

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.

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 protracted legal battle over whether Los Angeles city officials can seize and dispose of the unattended belongings of the homeless is not over - although it could be. A brief history: Last year a federal court issued a temporary injunction against the seizure of property left on the sidewalks of downtown's skid row, the most concentrated area of homelessness in Los Angeles. When the city appealed that injunction to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, a three-judge panel let it stand, saying the policy violates homeless people's 4th Amendment right to be free of unreasonable seizure of their property.